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PAPERS 

OF  THE 

PEABODY  MUSEUM  OF  AMERICAN  ARCHAEOLOGY 
AND  ETHNOLOGY.  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 

Vol.  VIIL  — No.  2 


BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 
OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA 

Report  on  the  Explorations,  1916-17 

BY 

SAMUEL  JAMES  GUERNSEY 

AND 

ALFRED  VINCENT  KIDDER 


FORTY- FOUR  PLATES  AND  SIXTEEN  ILLUSTRATIONS 
IN  THE  TEXT 


CAMBRIDGE,  MASSACHUSETTS,  U.  S.  A. 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  MUSEUM 

1921 


PAPERS 

OF  THE 

PEABODY  MUSEUM  OF  AMERICAN  ARCHAEOLOGY 
AND  ETHNOLOGY,  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 

Vol.  VIIL  — No.  2 


BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 
OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA 

Report  on  the  Explorations,  1916-17 

BY 

SAMUEL  JAMES  GUERNSEY 

AND 

ALFRED  VINCENT  KIDDER 


FORTY-FOUR  PLATES  AND  SIXTEEN  ILLUSTRATIONS 
IN  THE  TEXT 


CAMBRIDGE,  MASSACHUSETTS,  U.  S.  A. 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  MUSEUM 

1921 


COPYRIGHT,  1921 

BT  THE  PEABODY  MUSEUM  OF  AMERICAN  ARCHAEOLOGY 

AND  ETHNOLOGY,  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 


INTRODUCTION 

In  the  summer  of  1914  the  Peabody  Museum  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity sent  an  expedition  to  northeastern  Arizona  under  the  joint 
leadership  of  the  present  authors  for  the  purpose  of  studying  the 
relations  between  the  cliff-houses  of  that  district  and  those  of  the 
north  side  of  the  San  Juan  River.  In  the  course  of  this  trip,  evi- 
dence was  found  of  the  presence  of  the  Basket-maker  culture.  This 
culture  had  hitherto  only  been  reported  from  a  single  rather  re- 
stricted area  in  southeastern  Utah.^  Furthermore,  no  Basket- 
maker  remains  had  ever  been  taken  out  by  trained  investigators; 
so  that  the  claims,  put  forward  by  the  commercial  collectors  who 
discovered  and  named  the  culture,  that  it  was  a  distinct  one,  ante- 
dating that  of  the  CHff-dwellers,  had  been  received  by  archaeol- 
ogists with  more  or  less  incredulity.  We  felt,  therefore,  that  the 
opportunity  for  studying  these  Httle  known  remains  in  a  region 
untouched  by  earUer  diggers,  was  one  which  should  not  be  neglected; 
all  our  subsequent  work  has  accordingly  been  directed  toward  the 
finding  and  excavation  of  Basket-maker  sites. 

In  1915  the  junior  author  regretfully  gave  up  field  work  in  this 
region  to  undertake  other  excavations,  and  the  expeditions  of  that 
and  the  following  years  were  conducted  by  Mr.  Guernsey.  The 
results  of  1914  and  1915  have  already  been  pubnshed,^  the  present 
report  deals  with  the  explorations  of  1916  and  1917;  at  the  close  of 
the  latter  season  field  work  was  temporarily  discontinued  because 
of  the  war.  In  each  year  the  expeditions  were  carried  on  under 
permits  granted  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior. 

The  Museum  wishes  to  make  grateful  acknowledgment  to  the  fol- 
lowing persons  whose  generous  contributions,  supplementing  the 
Museum  appropriation,  served  greatly  to  enlarge  the  scope  of  the 
work:  Mrs.  S.  K.  Lothrop,  and  Messrs.  Bronson  Cutting,  Lawrence 
Grinnell,  F.  E.  Guernsey,  Augustus  Hemenway,  Henry  Horn- 

i  Pepper,  1902.     The  existence  of  the  Basket-makers  was  first  pointed  out  in  print  by 
Dr.  T.  Mitchell  Prudden  in  An  Elder  Brother  to  the  Cliff-dwellers  (Prudden,  1897). 
2  Kidder-Guernsey.  1919. 

m 


iv  INTRODUCTION 

blower,  J.  M.  Longyear,  D.  L.  Pickman,  and  John  E.  Thayer. 
It  wishes  also  to  tender  its  thanks  to  Professor  Byron  Cummings 
of  the  University  of  Arizona,  who  unselfishly  shared  with  it  the 
field  in  which  he  was  the  pioneer;  to  Clayton  Wetherill  for  his 
enthusiastic  and  faithful  services  as  guide  and  interpreter;  and  to 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Wetherill  and  Mr.  Clyde  Colville  of  Kayenta 
for  their  unfailing  hospitaUty  and  constant  helpfulness. 

In  the  two  seasons  covered  by  this  report,  the  party  outfitted 
at  Farmington,  New  Mexico,  and  proceeded  by  wagon  and  horse- 
back to  the  trading  post  of  Wetherill  and  Colville  at  Kayenta,  the 
base  from  which  further  explorations  were  conducted.  Kayenta, 
which  may  be  found  on  the  more  recent  Government  maps,  is 
reached  from  Farmington  by  a  journey  of  four  to  five  days, 
depending  on  the  condition  of  the  stock,  and  the  abundance  of 
grass  and  water.  The  caves  and  ruins  described  all  lie  in  Arizona 
within  a  radius  of  one  day's  ride  from  Kayenta. 

The  country  exerts  a  charm  which  the  authors  confess  their  in- 
abihty  to  describe.  Its  physical  aspect  has  already  been  noted  by 
more  competent  writers;  ^  it  is  sufficient  for  the  purpose  of  this 
paper  to  say,  that  although  essentially  a  semi-desert  region,  there 
is  no  difficulty  now,  nor  was  there  ever,  apparently,  in  earUer  times 
for  the  dweller  here  who  understood  the  environment,  to  obtain 
sufficient  sustenance  for  simple  requirements.  The  wastes  of  the 
valleys  and  mesa  tops  that  once  supphed  the  wild  game  with  which 
the  early  people  supplemented  the  fruits  of  their  agriculture,  now 
furnish  ample  grazing  grounds  for  the  Navajo's  flocks  of  sheep  and 
goats;  these  Indians  also  succeed  on  selected  sites  in  producing 
good  crops  of  corn,  under  conditions  that  to  a  white  farmer  would 
seem  quite  impossible. 

Cambridge,  Massachusetts 
March  5,  1921 


Prudden,  1903,  pp.  282-285;  and  1907;  Gregory,  1916,  pp.  45-67, 


CONTENTS 

FIELD  WORK,  SEASON  OF  1916 

The  South  Comb  p^^j. 

Sunflower  Cave  Revisited ,.    .    .    .  3 

Goat  Cave 7 

White  Dog  Cave 10 

Kiva 22 

FIELD  WORK,  SEASON  OF  1917 

Sayodneechee  Canyon 

Cave  3     28 

Cave  4     29 

Cave  5 29 

South  Comb  Revisited 

Cave  6     30 

Cave  7     33 

Sagiotsosi  Canyon 

Cave  8 34 

Cave  9     35 

Cave  10 35 

Cave  11 36 

Cave  12 37 

Cave  13 38 

Cave  14 38 

MATERIAL  CULTURE 

Food 

Vegetal  Food 41 

Animal  Food 44 

Dress  and  Personal  Ornaments 

Body  Clothing 45 

Sandals 47 

Necklaces 47 

V 


vi  CONTENTS 

Beads 48 

Pendants 49 

Feathered  Pendant 49 

Ornament  of  Mountain-sheep  Horn 50 

Deer-hoof  Rattles      50 

Unfinished  Ornament        50 

Tablet 50 

Head  Ornaments 51 

Hair-dressing      52 

Cradles  and  Accessories 

Rigid  Cradles      54 

Flexible  Cradles     58 

Umbilical  Pads 58 

Basketry 

Coiled  Basketry 59 

Twilled  Basketry 63 

Textiles 

Plain  Weaving 63 

Twined  Weaving 65 

Narrow  Fabrics 75 

Netting  and  Cordage 

Coiled  Netting 77 

Rabbit  Net     77 

Snares 79 

Objects  of  Wood 

Atlatl  or  Spear-thrower 80 

Darts 83 

Foreshafts 85 

Dart  Points 87 

Atlatl  Stones 87 

Grooved  Clubs 88 

Planting  Sticks 89 

Scoop-like  Objects     90 

Curved  Wooden  Tools 91 

Other  Objects  of  Wood 92 

Objects  of  Stone 

Manos 93 

Metate 93 

Chipped  Knife  Blades 93 


CONTENTS  vii 

Hafted  Knife 94 

Pipe  Drill 95 

Graver .  95 

Flaking  Tool 96 

Flaking  Stone 97 

Objects  of  Clay,  Bone,  Etc. 

Pottery 98 

Bone  Objects 98 

Dressed  Skin 99 

Sinew 99 

Feathers      99 

Ceremonial  Objects 

Ceremonial  Whip 100 

Problematical  Objects 100 

Ceremonial  Wand 101 

Ceremonial  Bundle 102 

Ceremonial  Bone  Objects 103 

Medicine  Pouches  of  Skin 

Bag  and  Contents 108 

Bag  with  Colored  Minerals 108 

Dice  Bags 108 

Sack  with  Beads  and  Feathers 108 

Pouch  and  Small  Articles 109 

Summary  and  Conclusions 

Summary  of  Material  Culture 109 

Conclusions 113 

Bibliography 119 


BASKET-MAKER  CAVES  OF  NORTH- 
EASTERN ARIZONA 

REPORT  ON   THE  EXPLORATIONS  OF  1916-17 

FIELD  WORK,  SEASON  OF  1916 

The  plans  of  the  1916  expedition  included  the  investigation  of  a 
Cliff-dweller  ruin  discovered  the  previous  year  on  the  west  bank  of 
the  Chinlee,  one  day's  journey  east  of  Kayenta.^  A  week  was  spent 
here.  After  reprovisioning  at  Kayenta,  camp  was  made  near  the 
mouth  of  Yellow  Head  Canyon,  about  10  miles  to  the  west,  where 
two  days  were  occupied  in  examining  a  small  cave  and  in  studying 
cliff-dwellings  that  had  been  cleared  by  Professor  Cummings  in 

1914.  Sunflower  Cave  (see  map,  figure  1)  a  site  left  unfinished  in 

1915,  was  then  visited  with  the  object  of  further  investigations.* 
The  remainder  of  the  season  was  occupied  in  exploring  the  South 
Comb  and  in  excavating  two  caves  some  5  miles  north  of  Sunflower 
Cave. 

THE  SOUTH  COMB  3 

The  South  Comb  is  a  great  sandstone  monocline  that  extends 
from  Marsh  Pass  in  a  generally  northeastern  direction  as  far  as 
the  San  Juan  River.  About  16  miles  from  Marsh  Pass  its  con- 
tinuity is  broken  by  a  narrow  valley  which  leads  through  it  from 
Kayenta  to  the  Agathla  Rock.  Our  work  was  confined  to  that 
section  lying  between  the  break  and  Marsh  Pass. 

Hereabouts  the  course  of  the  Comb  is  sinuous  and  its  appear- 
ance constantly  changing;  some  stretches  are  tilted  steeply  toward 
the  sheer  walls  of  Skeleton  Mesa,  whose  top  at  those  points  rises 
higher  than  the  jagged  summit  of  the  Comb  itself,  which  is  shown 
in  plate  1,  b.  Other  stretches  show  gentle  inclines  that  seem  to  lead 
to  the  Mesa,  but  on  reaching  the  crests  the  way  is  invariably 
blocked  by  deep  intervening  chasms.    It  is  hard  to  imagine  more 

1  To  be  described  in  a  separate  article. 

•  For  the  location  of  this  and  other  sites,  see  map,  figure  1. 

*  For  the  geology  of  the  region,  see  Gregory,  1916,  p.  47. 


2  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

rugged  rock  formations  than  those  to  be  found  in  this  part  of  the 
Comb.  Frequently,  and  with  httle  strain  on  the  imagination,  one 
can  make  out  along  its  crests  weird  forms  in  natural  sculpture :  the 
outlines  of  colossal  animals,  faces,  solitary  spires  and  minarets, 
whose  silent  grandeur  at  nightfall  intensifies  the  brooding  gloom  of 


A=  CAVES 


Figure  1 
Sketch-map  of  the  Kayenta  Region. 


the  desert.  In  the  walls  of  the  tortuous  gorges  that  wind  up  among 
the  chffs  are  countless  caves,  large  and  small,  many  of  them  so  well 
hidden  among  the  contorted  rocks  that  they  can  be  found  only  by 
working  one's  way  on  foot  along  the  ledges. 

Before  exploring  for  new  sites,  the  expedition  occupied  itself 
with  two  caves  found  in  the  Comb  during  the  previous  year. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  3 

Sunflower  Cave  Revisited.  While  work  at  this  site  was  still  in 
progress  in  1915,  a  sudden  flood  in  Laguna  Creek  cut  off  com- 
munication between  the  camp,  which  lay  on  the  east  bank,  and  the 
ruin.  As  time  was  very  Umited,  it  was  thought  best  not  to  wait  the 
several  days  that  it  would  probably  take  for  the  water  to  subside; 
and  the  party  moved  on,  leaving  a  section  at  the  rear  of  the  cave 
unexplored. 

Sunflower  Cave  was  occupied  by  a  small  cliff -house  in  which  was 
found  the  remarkable  cache  of  ceremonial  objects  that  gave  the 
place  its  name.^  Of  even  greater  interest,  however,  was  the  presence 
of  certain  remains  which  led  us  to  suspect  that  in  this  cave  might 
be  found  evidence  as  to  the  relative  age  of  the  Basket-maker  and 
Cliff-dweller  cultures.  Cist  4,  sunk  into  the  hard-pan  behind  the 
cliff-house  rooms,  had  given  the  most  positive  indications  of  this; 
it  is  described  as  follows  in  the  previous  report  (p.  96) : 

The  outlines  of  this  cist  could  be  traced  by  a  disturbed  area  showing  in 
the  face  of  the  trench.  It  had  originally  been  a  stone  enclosure,  though  but 
two  of  the  slabs  were  still  in  place.  A  few  .bones  of  a  child  were  found  in  the 
upper  part;  near  the  bottom  at  the  side  nearest  the  back  of  the  cave  were  two 
decorated  bone  tubes.  Imprints  of  coiled  basketry  could  be  seen  in  hard 
lumps  of  the  adobe  filling,  but  nothing  of  the  basket  itself  remained.  The  cist 
gave  us  the  impression  that  it  had  been  a  Basket-maker  burial  chamber  which 
had  been  pulled  to  pieces,  partly  emptied  and  then  filled  in  with  rubbish  dur- 
ing the  cliff -house  period. 

There  was  also  found  in  the  loose  rubbish  a  typical  Basket- 
maker  sandal,  the  presence  of  which,  in  what  was  a  purely  cliff- 
house  site  to  all  outward  appearance,  required  some  explanation. 

We  were  accordingly  very  anxious  to  examine  the  still  undug 
portions  at  the  rear  of  the  cave.  The  results  of  the  second  visit 
amply  repaid  the  effort,  for  we  discovered  unmistakable  strati- 
graphic  evidence  of  a  sequence  of  occupation.  The  new  excavations 
revealed  Basket-maker  burials,  some  of  them  entirely  undisturbed, 
below  a  stratum  of  typical  Cliff-dweller  debris.  The  location  of 
the  finds  is  shown  on  the  plan  (figure  2) ;  their  relation  to  the  Cliff- 
dweller  remains  is  clearly  brought  out  in  the  diagrammatic  cross- 
section  (figure  3) . 

Cist  5  (cists  1  to  4  opened  in  1915)  was  a  shallow  bowl-shaped  hole 
dug  in  the  hard-pan.    In  it  were  parts  of  the  skeletons  of  a  young 

1  For  a  general  description  of  this  cave  and  of  the  finds  made  there  in  1915,  see  Kidder- 
Guernsey,  1919,  pp.  92-96. 


4  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

child  and  an  adult,  while  scattered  through  the  loose  dirt  about  the 
top  were  portions  of  the  skeleton  of  a  second  child,  which  had  prob- 
ably originally  been  deposited  with  the  other  remains.    The  bones 


/ 

oSP'    1 

/ 

^^°^ 

HJ 

V4 

:    CI 

Figure  2 
Plan  of  Sunflower  Cave,  South  Comb. 


of  the  adult  had  been  carefully  disposed  at  the  bottom  of  the  hole, 
in  a  manner  to  make  the  most  of  the  limited  space.  They  con- 
sisted of  an  undeformed  skull  in  good  preservation,  the  long 
bones  of  the  arms,  the  scapulae,  and  a  few  ribs  and  vertebrae.  The 
arm  bones  were  placed  on  either  side  of  the  skull,  the  other  bones 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  5 

being  packed  close  about  it.  Lying  across  the  arm  bones  was  a 
section  of  a  femur  which  showed  a  long  spUntered  post-mortem 
break.  The  lower  jaw  was  found  in  the  loose  rubbish  some  fifteen 
inches  from  the  edge  of  the  cist. 

It  had  probably  been  dragged  out  by  rats,  a  thing  we  found  to 
be  not  uncommon  in  caves.  A  small  white  chipped  point  lay 
among  the  bones.  Above  these  remains  was  the  disarranged  skele- 
ton of  the  young  child.  The  second  child's  skeleton  as  before 
stated,  was  scattered  through  the  loose  earth  about  the  cist.    We 


77 


1 1^ 


HARDPAN 


Figure  3 
Sunflower  Cave,  Cross-section. 


are  at  a  loss  to  account  for  the  neat  arrangement  of  the  adult  bones. 
It  is  clearly  a  case  of  secondary  burial,  but  we  have  never  found 
any  instance  of  this  practice  in  undisturbed  Basket-maker  sites, 
and  the  people  who  looted  Basket-maker  graves  did  not,  as  far  as 
we  are  aware,  ever  trouble  themselves  to  restore  anything  to  place. 

Cist  6  was  2  feet  6  inches  in  diameter  and  was  cut  3  feet  deep 
into  the  hard-pan.  It  lay  4  feet  east  of  Cist  5,  and  contained  only  a 
quantity  of  loose  cedar  bark  and  shredded  grass  piled  in  the  bottom. 
It  is  possible  that  the  bones  found  in  Cist  5  came  from  here,  though 
no  positive  evidence  remained  that  it  had  been  used  for  burial. 

Cist  7  was  an  untouched  Basket-maker  grave;  the  original  filling 
passed  unbroken  above  it,  and  was  in  turn  overlaid  by  Cliif -dweller 
rubbish  (figure  3).  It  was  4  feet  in  diameter,  3  feet  deep,  and  held 
the  well-preserved  skeletons  of  two  adults  with  undeformed  crania. 
They  lay  flexed  on  their  left  sides,  hands  between  the  lower 
thighs  (plate  10,  c) ;  over  the  head  of  each  was  inverted  a  small 
coiled  basket,  one  of  which  can  be  seen  in  the  photograph.    The 


6  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

earth  about  the  skeletons  showed  traces  of  decayed  organic  matter, 
probably  from  fur-string  robes  and  other  wrappings;  rotted  cedar 
bark  was  found  at  the  bottom.  The  only  object  besides  the  de- 
composed baskets  was  a  small  strip  of  bark  with  one  end  neatly 
trimmed  off. 

Cists  8,  9  and  10  had  all  been  plundered  in  early  times  and  con- 
tained only  fragmentary  skeletons;  a  number  of  cylindrical  seed 
beads  accompanied  the  remains  of  a  child  in  Cist  10. 

Cists  11  and  12  were  within  3  feet  of  the  rear  wall  of  the  cave. 
Although  very  close  under  the  surface  they  had  not  been  molested. 
Cist  11  was  a  shallow  bowl-shaped  scoop  in  the  hard-pan,  and  held 
two  infants.  One  of  these  had  been  wrapped  in  a  fur-string  blanket 
and  lay  on  what  seemed  to  be  a  twined-woven  cedar-bark  mat,  be- 
neath which  was  a  reed-backed  cradle  too  badly  rotted  to  preserve. 
Infant  2  was  also  wrapped  in  a  fur-string  blanket  and  lay  on  a  de- 
cayed reed-backed  cradle;  near  the  head  were  remains  of  a  coiled 
basket  inverted  over  traces  of  a  substance  resembling  meal.  Both 
cradles  were  of  the  rigid  type  shown  in  plate  20.  Accompanying 
the  bodies  were  two  bark  objects  covered  with  prairie-dog  skin, 
which  we  have  since  been  able  to  identify  as  umbilical  pads.  Cist 
12  was  a  small  hole  in  the  hard-pan.  In  it  was  an  infant  wrapped 
in  a  fur-string  robe  and  encased  in  a  twined-woven  bag.  The  robe 
had  been  destroyed  by  insects,  but  the  bag  was  in  a  fair  state  of 
preservation. 

All  the  above  Basket-maker  cists  lay  below  a  layer  of  cliff- 
house  rubbish  from  6  to  8  inches  deep,  made  up  of  ashes,  turkey 
droppings,  bits  of  straw  and  many  potsherds  of  the  same  wares  as 
those  found  on  other  cliff-house  sites  in  this  region.  Beneath  this 
rubbish,  the  surface  of  the  hard-pan  above  the  cists  gave  no  in- 
dication of  their  presence,  being  as  compact  and  of  the  same  ap- 
pearance as  the  surrounding  hard-pan.  If,  therefore,  we  had  fol- 
lowed the  1915  method  of  clearing  and  examining  the  Cliff-dweller 
rubbish  down  to  the  hard-pan,  and  not  cutting  into  it  except  where 
the  tops  of  cists  were  encountered  or  other  surface  indications 
excited  interest,  these  burials  would  have  escaped  notice  altogether. 

Fortunately,  however,  the  trench  was  run  much  deeper  than 
usual  and  entered  Cist  7  from  the  side.  The  section  thus  exposed 
showed  the  top  to  be  filled  to  a  depth  of  1  foot  with  a  compactly 
tamped  mass  exactly  like  the  hard-pan  in  which  the  cist  itself  was 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  1 


South  Comb 
a,  White  Dog  Cliff  and  Navajo  Hogan;  b,  South  Comb,  near  White  Dog  Cave. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  7 

excavated  (figure  3).  That  the  infant  burials  in  Cists  11  and  12 
remained  undiscovered  through  the  period  of  CHff-dweller  occu- 
pancy is  remarkable,  since  they  were  covered  by  hardly  more  than 
3  inches  of  the  cave  earth;  the  Cliff-dweller  rubbish  here  was  also 
very  thin.  A  possible  explanation  may  be  that  this  part  of  the 
cave  was  used  by  the  Cliff-dwellers  for  storage  or  for  sleeping 
places,  and  was  thus  in  a  measure  protected  from  the  random  dig- 
ging to  which  the  more  open  portions  were  exposed. 

Had  the  Cliff-dwellers,  the  final  tenants  of  the  cave,  been  more 
persistent  in  their  search,  there  would  have  remained  no  trace  of 
the  Basket-maker  period  except  the  cists,  empty  or  refilled  with 
Cliff-dweller  rubbish.  Attention  is  called  to  this  for  the  sake  of 
emphasis,  as  further  on  in  this  report,  caves  are  described  where  all 
evidence  of  Basket-maker  occupancy  other  than  the  empty  cists 
has  been  effaced. 

Goat  Cave.  This  site  was  located  by  the  expedition  of  1915. 
It  lies  about  two  miles  north  of  Sunflower  Cave  at  the  foot  of  a 
steep  incline  leading  to  the  top  of  the  Comb  (see  figure  1).  The 
approach  is  through  a  narrow  ravine  choked  with  great  rocks, 
among -which  a  thick  growth  of  large  old  cedars  has  found  root. 
These  trees  screen  the  place  from  view  except  at  a  few  points  in 
the  ravine.  The  cave  is  a  deep  shelter  at  the  west  end  of  which  is 
an  even  deeper  recess.  As  shown  in  the  plan  (figure  4)  there  are 
two  levels:  a  front  or  lower  one,  extending  the  entire  length  of  the 
cave;  and  a  higher  rear  level,  consisting  of  the  whole  floor  of  the 
inner  recess  and  of  a  narrow  gallery  running  all  along  the  back  of 
the  more  open  part  of  the  cave.  The  whole  upper  level  is  formed  of 
the  original  hard-pan  fill;  along  the  gallery  or  terrace  this  breaks 
away  in  a  vertical  bank.  The  walls  and  roof  of  the  cave  are  much 
blackened  by  smoke.  At  one  point  in  the  rear  of  the  cave  the  floor 
is  covered  by  a  thick  layer  of  ashes  and  charcoal.  In  the  recess  and 
on  the  end  of  the  gallery  next  to  it,  are  a  number  of  partly  fallen 
walls  (plate  2,  a,  b). 

Room  1,  five  feet  in  diameter,  the  walls  2  feet  4  inches  high,  is 
built  of  upright  slabs  of  stone. 

Room  2,  from  the  foundations  that  remain,  appears  to  have  been 
oval  in  shape.  From  front  to  back  it  measured  8  feet,  its  length 
could  not  be  determined  as  the  end  wall  had  disappeared.  The 
foundation  is  of  thick  stone  slabs  of  uniform  size  set  on  end,  on 


8 


BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 


these  small  stones  were  laid  flat  (plate  2,  a),  but  little  of  the  upper 
course  remained  in  place.  Joints  between  the  foundation  slabs 
were  closed  with  adobe  mortar.  The  upper  courses  appear  to  have 
been  chinked  with  the  same  material.  Back  of  this  room  are  re- 
mains of  two  curved  walls  built  of  coursed  masonry  in  the  usual 
Cliff-dweller  manner.  Stone  apparently  from  these  walls  was  used 
to  construct  a  small  cairn  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  recess.    It 


FiGUBE  4 

Plan  and  Cross-section  of  Goat  Cave,  South  Comb. 


resembles  monuments  built  by  the  Navajo  to  mark  water  or  trails; 
nothing  was  found  beneath  it.  Directly  in  front  of  the  cairn  is  a 
heap  of  rocks  fallen  from  the  roof  of  the  cave. 

On  the  lower  level  in  front  of  the  gallery  are  two  roughly  circular 
rooms  which  we  at  first  wrongly  thought  to  be  Cliff-dweller  kivas, 
but  they  were  found  to  contain  none  of  the  special  features  of 
ceremonial  rooms.  Both  were  built  against  the  steep  bank  of  the 
terrace  which  had  been  cut  away  to  form  their  rear  walls. 

Room  3,  the  less  well-preserved  of  the  two,  measured  15  feet 
across  its  greatest  diameter;  the  wall  stood  4  feet  at  its  highest 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  2 


Goat  Cave 
a,  Slab  foundation  of  Room  2;  b,  General  view,  Room  3  in  foreground. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  9 

point.  The  masonry  is  interesting  and  unusual;  medium-sized  flat 
stones  are  laid  up  without  any  mortar  in  such  a  way  as  to  produce 
an  even  surface  on  the  interior  (plate  2,  b),  the  exterior  being  left 
irregular  and  rough.  So  carefully  are  the  stones  placed  that  in 
spite  of  the  absence  of  mortar  the  construction  is  firm  and  solid. 
In  clearing  this  room  a  slab  cist  was  uncovered,  measuring  4  feet 
in  diameter  at  the  top,  3  feet  at  the  bottom,  and  2  feet  deep;  in 
the  bottom  was  a  2-inch  layer  of  ashes  and  charcoal  and  over  this 
2  inches  of  cedar  bark.  It  was  very  similar  to  Basket-maker  slab 
cists  found  in  Cave  1,  1915.^  The  original  floor  of  Room  3  was  so 
ill-defined  that  we  could  not  determine  exactly  the  relation  of  the 
cist  to  the  floor,  but  as  near  as  could  be  judged  the  upright  slabs 
had  been  sunk  into  it  a  depth  of  about  8  inches. 

Cached  in  the  loose  filling  of  the  room,  at  the  point  indicated  in 
the  plan  (figure  4;  note  also  its  position  in  the  cross-section)  was  a 
black  corrugated  oUa.  It  was  covered  with  a  thin  flat  stone,  but 
contained  only  drift  sand. 

Room  4'  The  general  shape  of  this  room  is  shown  in  the  plan. 
Its  greatest  diameter,  measured  inside,  is  fourteen  feet,  from  back 
to  front  eleven  feet.  The  highest  point  in  the  wall,  five  feet,  is 
probably  the  original  height,  as  no  loose  building  stones  were 
noticed  here.  No  trace  of  roofing  remains.  The  masonry  wall  has 
no  sharp  corners.  The  back  wall  is  cut  in  the  face  of  the  gallery 
and  has  a  slight  bend  or  angle.  The  stones  are  laid  to  produce  a 
smooth  face  on  the  inside  as  in  Room  3,  and  with  considerable 
skill,  since  they  are  still  firmly  in  place  though  there  is  no  trace  of 
adobe  mortar  in  the  joints.  In  excavating  the  room  we  found 
quantities  of  charcoal  and  scattered  bundles  of  cedar  bark,  but  no 
artifacts.  Two  rude  cists  lined  with  cedar  bark  were  also  opened. 
As  in  Room  3  the  floor  was  not  well-defined. 

In  the  floor  of  the  gallery  were  several  jar-shaped  cists  dug  in 
the  hard-pan  (see  figure  4) .  These  were  exactly  like  the  burial  cists 
found  in  the  Sayodneechee  burial  cave,  1914.^  At  a  point  back  of 
Room  3  where  the  terrace  wall  had  caved  off  carrying  with  it  one 
half  a  cist  (see  section  in  figure  4)  the  exposed  cross-section  showed 
plainly  the  marks  of  digging  sticks  in  the  side  of  the  cist  thus 
brought  to  view.   Two  of  the  cists  contained  a  few  human  bones; 

1  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  p.  77  and  plate  27. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  28  and  figure  8. 


10  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

while  other  portions  of  skeletons,  some  bleached  by  long  exposure, 
were  found  in  the  loose  sand  covering  the  floor  of  the  terrace. 
These  were,  no  doubt,  plundered  Basket-maker  burials. 

The  authors  wish  to  call  particular  attention  to  the  rooms  un- 
covered in  this  cave.  Their  masonry,  with  the  exception  of  the 
single  wall  in  the  recess,  is  quite  different  from  that  of  the  cliff- 
dwelhngs. 

White  Dog  Cave.  This  was  by  far  the  most  proUfic  site  dis- 
covered by  the  Museum's  expeditions  to  northeastern  Arizona. 
Its  position  is  most  inconspicuous  and  the  first  view  of  it  was  ob- 
tained during  a  climb  high  up  among  the  rocks  of  the  Comb, 
the  only  place  in  fact,  from  which  it  could  be  seen  from  any  dis- 
tance. It  might  easily  have  escaped  notice  altogether,  for  a  rider 
passing  along  the  valley  below  would  not  be  tempted  to  explore 
the  narrow  ravine  leading  up  to  it,  particularly  as  the  cliff  in  which 
it  is  located  is  apparently  in  full  view  and  seems  to  be  entirely  un- 
broken (see  plate  1,  a).  One  short  section  of  the  cliff  is,  however, 
out  of  sight  from  the  flat  land,  and  just  there  is  tucked  away  the 
cave.  The  above  conditions  are  described  thus  at  length  in  order  to 
show  the  absolute  necessity  of  a  careful  search  on  foot  among  all 
the  little  side  canyons  of  this  broken  country. 

The  approach  is  up  a  tortuous  ravine.  Arriving  below  it  the 
visitor  is  astonished  that  so  great  a  cavern  should  be  so  effectively 
hidden.  It  occupies  a  commanding  position  in  the  rounded  front 
of  a  buttress-hke  swell  of  the  cliff.  The  huge  portal,  120  feet 
across  the  base  and  at  least  125  feet  high,  seems  carved  by  nature 
to  conform  to  the  dome-shaped  top  of  the  cliff  above  it.  The  accom- 
panying photograph  (plate  3) ,  aside  from  having  in  it  no  f amihar 
objects  by  which  relative  proportions  may  be  judged,  shows  so 
clearly  the  process  of  formation  and  general  aspect  that  further 
description  is  unnecessary. 

Reaching  the  cave  after  a  stiff  climb  of  100  feet  up  a  steep  talus, 
one  enters  a  spacious  chamber  measuring  approximately  70  feet 
from  back  wall  to  line  of  shelter  and  120  feet  across  the  opening. 
The  ceihng  is  high  and  arched,  the  floor  rises  at  an  easy  grade  from 
front  to  back.  Somewhat  more  than  half  the  floor  space  is  covered 
by  large  rocks  fallen  from  the  roof,  one  of  which  measures  20  feet 
in  length,  12  feet  in  width  and  10  feet  thick  (figure  5  and  plate  11,  a) . 
This  and  other  rocks  near  it  we  found  later  had  fallen  since  the 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  3 


White  Doa  Cave. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA 


11 


cave  was  occupied.  The  unencumbered  portion  of  the  floor  was 
composed  of  clean  sand  and  small  broken  stones.  Although  we 
subsequently  unearthed  considerable  accumulations  of  ashes  and 
charcoal  in  different  parts  of  the  cave,  the  walls  and  ceiUngs 
showed  not  a  trace  of  soot,  having  been  scoured  clean  by  wind- 
blown sand.  A  demonstration  of  this  process  was  furnished  one 
day  when  a  high  wind  from  the  proper  quarter  created  a  veritable 


Figure  5 
Plan  of  White  Dog  Cave,  South  Comb. 


whirlwind  in  the  cave,  gathering  up  the  surface  sand  and  swirling 
it  about  in  such  quantities  that  we  were  forced  to  abandon  work 
while  it  continued.  A  piece  of  paper  released  at  the  back  would 
sometimes  make  as  many  as  three  complete  circuits  of  the  cave 
clinging  close  to  the  wall  except  as  it  passed  across  the  front.  On 
mentioning  this  to  Mrs.  Wetherill  we  were  told  by  her  that  the 
place  was  known  to  the  Navajo  as  the  Cave  of  Winds. 

The  first  examination  of  the  cave  for  traces  of  occupation 
showed  at  the  back  against  the  wall  the  tops  of  several  sand-filled 
cists,  dug  in  the  hard-pan.   Searching  the  surface,  a  few  bleached 


12  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

human  bones  were  seen  and  a  small  handful  of  CUff-dweller  pot- 
sherds was  picked  up.  Digging  at  random  with  a  trowel,  a  few 
fragments  of  basketry  and  some  bone  beads  were  found.  Near  the 
center  of  the  cave  the  ends  of  two  upright  stakes  were  noticed, 
projecting  from  2  to  3  inches  above  the  surface.  Not  until  our 
second  and  more  thorough  examination  did  we  discover  on  the 
west  side  a  low  foundation  wall  mudded  on  to  the  sloping  rock  floor 
of  the  cave.  This  was  apparently  the  beginning  of  a  small  CHff- 
dweller  storage  room  or  bin.  As  a  ''prospect"  the  cave  fulfilled 
every  requirement.  Its  exploration  yielded  a  collection  which 
fully  represents  most  phases  of  the  material  culture  of  the  Basket- 
makers. 

Across  the  front  of  the  cave  where  work  was  commenced  there 
was  found  a  natural  ridge  of  coarse  debris,  back  of  which  the  sand 
fill  had  accumulated  above  the  hard-pan  floor  to  a  depth  of  from 

5  to  7  feet.  Toward  the  back  this  deposit  grew  shallower  until 
along  the  rear  wall  the  hard-pan  cropped  to  the  surface. 

The  fill  carried  no  refuse  pockets  or  well-defined  rubbish  layers 
such  as  are  found  marking  floor  levels  in  Cliff-dweller  caves.  In 
general  it  was  made  up  of  a  surface  layer  6  inches  to  1  foot  deep  of 
drift  sand,  below  which  it  was  composed  of  sand  and  bits  of  stone 
mixed  with  straw,  pieces  of  bark,  and  particles  of  charcoal. 

Occasionally  there  appeared  thin  strata  of  coarse  charcoal  and  in 
certain  areas  there  were  encountered  quite  extensive  accumulations 
of  ashes  and  charcoal.  In  the  general  digging  a  number  of  speci- 
mens were  found  at  various  depths.  They  consisted  mainly  of 
basket  sherds,  fragments  of  fur-string  blankets  and  tattered  bits 
of  woven  bags;  a  mummified  foot  and  other  fragments  of  human 
remains  were  also  recovered.  All  other  objects  were  taken  from 
cists. 

In  the  plan,  figure  5,  are  indicated  a  large  number  of  cists  grouped 
along  the  east  wall;  there  were  no  cists  on  the  west  and  north 
sides.  The  majority  of  these  were  jar-shaped  excavations  in  the 
hard-pan  ranging  in  size  from  small  pot-holes  1  foot  in  diameter 
and  of  about  the  same  depth,  to  examples  5  feet  deep  and  4  feet 

6  inches  in  diameter.  Some  burials  were  found  in  this  type  of  cist 
but  for  the  most  part  they  were  empty,  save  for  sand  or  sometimes 
cedar  bark  and  grass  at  the  bottom.  Most  of  the  burials  were  in 
the  front  half  of  the  cist  area.   A  few,  as  was  just  stated,  were  in 


Peabodt  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  4 


White  Dog  Cave 

g,  Cradle  bundle  as  found.    The  other  figures  show  cradle  and  contents  unwrapped. 

a,  Woven  cloth;  b,  f.  Fur  cloth  blankets;  c,  Mummy  of  child;  d,  Umbilical  pad; 

e,  Absorbent  bark;  i,  Cradle.     (About  1/12.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  13 

cists  completely  excavated  in  the  hard-pan,  others  were  in  shallow 
excavations  in  the  hard-pan  with  one  or  two  stone  slabs  so  placed 
as  to  hold  back  the  loose  sand,  and  a  single  burial  was  in  a  cist  (51) 
of  the  stone  slab  type  described  in  the  previous  report.^  Some  of 
the  burials  had  been  previously  disturbed,^  but  a  number  were 
found  intact,  the  remains  and  mortuary  offerings  in  a  remarkably 
fine  state  of  preservation. 

In  the  account  of  the  excavations  which  follows,  certain  cists  and 
burials  are  described  in  detail.  The  intention  is  to  present  the 
saUent  features  of  the  more  typical  ones,  hence  many  small  objects 
found  in  the  cists  or  concealed  among  the  wrappings  of  the  mum- 
mies are  not  enumerated.  They  are,  however,  described  in  detail 
in  another  section. 

Cist  6  (figure  6,  a).  The  first  burial  cist  to  be  encountered 
measured  3  feet  in  diameter,  2  feet  in  depth  and  was  4  feet  below 
the  surface.  It  represents  a  type  that  was  evidently  constructed 
primarily  for  sepulchre.  At  one  side  was  an  upright  stone  slab. 
Although  the  cist  had  been  relieved  of  a  good  portion  of  its  con- 
tents by  ancient  diggers  we  obtained  from  it  a  collection  which 
required  51  catalogue  numbers  to  record.  In  the  upper  part  were 
the  scattered  bones  of  three  infants;  at  the  bottom  a  few  bones 
from  the  skeleton  of  an  adult.  In  the  loose  fill  were  several  bunches 
of  human  hair  (plate  32,  c,  d) .  A  quantity  of  human  hair  evidently 
from  the  head  of  a  mummy  ^  that  had  been  pulled  from  the  cist  was 
also  found  in  the  loose  fill.  One  small  strand  was  wrapped  about 
with  a  leather  thong.  Later  we  found  in  another  cist  a  mummy 
with  coiffure  intact,  having  a  queue-like  strand  wrapped  in  the 
same  manner.  These  were  practically  all  the  human  remains  that 
were  left.  At  the  bottom  against  one  side  were  a  quantity  of  pirion 
nuts,  the  rotted  remains  of  woven  bags,  loose  beads,  basket  sherds, 
pieces  of  woven  bags  and  fur-string  robes. 

Cist  13,  a.  shallow  bowl-shaped  excavation,  contained  the  re- 
mains of  two  infants.  One,  a  very  young  child  wrapped  in  two 
fur-string  blankets  and  a  fragment  of  woven  cloth,  was  lashed 

»  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  p.  77  and  plate  27. 

*  This  grave  looting  so  commonly  found  in  Basket-maker  cave  cemeteries  is  not  modern. 
Although  we  have  no  direct  evidence  in  its  support,  our  theory  is  that  it  was  the  work  of  the 
Clifif-dwellers.    See  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  p.  84. 

"  The  mummies  were,  of  course,  not  artificially  preserved  in  any  way;  they  are  merely 
desiccated  bodies. 


14  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

tightly  to  a  small  reed-backed  cradle;  an  umbilical  pad  was  in 
place  and  the  dried  umbilical  cord  was  tied  to  one  of  the  blankets. 
This  mummy  bundle  as  found,  and  also  unwrapped  so  that  all  its 
parts  can  be  seen,  is  shown  in  plate  4.  The  second  body,  that  of 
a  child  about  4  years  of  age,  was  completely  encased  in  a  woven 
bagi  (plate  30,  f).  It  was  also  shrouded  in  a  fur-string  robe. 
Beneath  this  bundle  were  pieces  of  a  cedar-bark  mat,  and  over 
it  was  spread  a  fur-string 
blanket  (plate  16,  a)  which 
was  in  turn  covered  by  an 


Figure  6 
White  Dog  Cave:  a,  Cross-section  of  Cist  6;  b,  Cross-section  of  Cist  22. 

inverted  tray  basket.  At  one  side  of  the  cist  was  a  bowl-shaped 
basket  also  inverted.  In  the  fill  some  8  inches  above  the  tray 
basket  was  a  skin  bag  containing  shelled  corn  (plate  15).  At 
one  side  of  the  cist  lay  an  atlatl  in  perfect  condition  save  that 
before  being  placed  in  the  cist  it  had  been  bent  nearly  double. 
This  and  the  baskets  are  illustrated  in  situ  in  plate  10,  e. 

Cist  22  contained  the  bodies  of  three  individuals.  Its  shape  was 
roughly  circular,  the  greatest  diameter  being  5  feet  2  inches,  depth 
2  feet  10  inches;  the  top  was  5  feet  6  inches  below  the  surface. 
Each  body  occupied  a  shallow  depression  scooped  out  of  the  bottom 
of  the  cist  as  shown  in  figure  6,  b.  The  remains  were  partly  mum- 
mified though  not  in  a  good  state  of  preservation.    The  heads, 


1  The  design  on  this  bag  is  shown  in  color  in  plate 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  15 

however,  retained  their  hair  and  much  of  the  dried  tissue  of  the  face. 
Each  body  had  been  wrapped  in  a  fur-string  blanket  and  sewed  up 
in  woven  bags,  all  of  which  were  in  an  advanced  state  of  decay. 

Number  1,  the  body  of  a  young  female,  lay  on  its  right  side, 
knees  drawn  up  and  hands  between  the  thighs.  A  skein-like  rope 
of  human  hair  was  wound  around  the  left  forearm,  passed  between 
the  thighs  and  made  fast  about  the  right  leg  below  the  knee.  At 
the  waist  were  fragments  of  a  string  apron.  Some  portions  of  bags 
that  had  been  used  to  cover  the  body  remained.  A  fragment  at 
the  feet  was  of  very  fine  weave  while  pieces  adhering  to  the  knees 
were  much  coarser.  Covering  the  whole  were  two  tray  baskets. 
Number  2  was  a  female.  Three  baskets  were  used  to  cover  the 
body.  It  rested  on  its  back  with  head  and  legs  inchned  to  the 
left;  the  feet  were  drawn  up  close  to  the  body;  the  upper  legs, 
bent  at  the  hips,  were  at  right  angles  to  the  torso.  The  hands 
were  in  front  of  the  lap,  and  were  bound  together  at  the  wrists  by 
fourteen  turns  of  a  tightly  twisted  cord  of  human  hair.  This  cord 
was  then  knotted  to  a  skein-Uke  rope  of  human  hair  and  both  rope 
and  cord  passed  through  between  the  thighs  and  about  the  lower 
legs  above  the  ankles.  At  the  waist  were  remains  of  a  string  apron 
and  on  the  breast  lay  a  disk-shaped  pendant  of  shell,  ornamented 
with  incised  lines.  About  the  neck  were  beads  of  oHvella  shells 
and  thin  disk-beads  cut  from  shell,  together  with  part  of  the  leather 
string  by  which  they  had  been  suspended.  In  the  bottom  of  the 
cist  under  the  body  were  a  number  of  dice-like  stones  and  a  single 
corn  cob.  Number  3  (male,  20  to  25  years  of  age)  rested  on  its  left 
side,  limbs  loosely  flexed,  hands  between  thighs.  Two  tray  baskets 
covered  the  body.  At  the  right  side  lay  a  grooved  club,  at  the  feet 
were  a  pair  of  badly  rotted  square-toed  sandals  with  leather  tie- 
strings  and  a  quantity  of  small  deer  or  antelope  hoofs.  Near  the 
hoofs  were  two  handle-like  bone  objects  with  small  stones  attached 
to  their  ends.  About  the  neck  was  a  string  of  shell  beads.  Among 
the  objects  found  under  the  body  was  a  fine  chipped  knife  blade 
(plate  35,  k)  and  its  shrunken  wooden  haft. 

Cist  2Ji.  held  the  mummies  of  two  adults,  one  male  and  one  female, 
each  accompanied  by  the  remains  of  a  dog,  and  an  unusual  number 
of  mortuary  offerings.  The  remarkably  fine  state  of  preservation 
of  everything  in  this  cist  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  burials  were 
surrounded  by  dry  sand.    The  excavation  in  the  hard-pan  made 


16  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

to  receive  the  bodies  was  a  shallow  hole  just  deep  enough  to  hold 
them.  As  in  Cist  22,  each  individual  occupied  a  scooped-out  place 
in  the  bottom  of  the  cist.  At  the  back  was  an  upright  stone  slab; 
as  none  were  used  at  the  front  or  sides,  its  purpose  was  evidently 
to  hold  back  the  loose  sand  while  the  hard-pan  was  being  excavated. 
Just  in  front  of  the  slab  was  a  stout  log  3  feet  in  length,  the  ends 
and  sides  charred  by  fire.  This  reached  to  the  surface  and  was 
one  of  the  stakes  observed  when  the  cave  was  entered  (see  upper 
right  center,  plate  6,  a) ;  whether  or  not  it  was  so  placed  at  the 
time  the  burials  were  made  we  were  unable  to  tell.  It  may  have 
been  a  marker,  but  we  have  found  no  other  burials  indicated  in 
this  way. 

Mummy  1  (female)  lay  on  its  right  side,  limbs  loosely  flexed. 
Two  large  woven  bags  split  down  the  side  encased  the  remains, 
one  drawn  over  the  head,  the  other  over  the  feet;  the  tops  met 
at  the  middle  of  the  body  and  were  sewn  together  with  yucca 
leaves  (plate  7,  a).  As  usual  the  corpse  was  wrapped  in  a  fur- 
string  robe.  Over  it  were  inverted  two  baskets,  a  bowl-shaped  one 
covering  the  feet;  the  other  a  large  carrjdng  basket  with  tump- 
Une  attached  covering  the  head  and  upper  part  of  the  body.  The 
baskets  and  the  manner  in  which  a  number  of  digging  sticks  were 
disposed  in  the  grave  is  shown  in  plate  6,  a.  The  planting  stick 
at  the  front  with  one  end  resting  on  the  edge  of  the  cist  was  evi- 
dently placed  to  hold  the  basket  upright.  The  cedar  bark  that 
appears  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner  is  from  another  cist.  On  re- 
moving the  carrying  basket,  a  small  dog  was  found  lying  below 
it  on  the  left  side  of  the  mummy.  Under  the  bowl-shaped  basket 
was  a  substance  resembling  meal.  On  lifting  the  body  from  the 
cist  there  was  found  beneath  it  a  thick  bed  of  fur  and  feathers 
compacted  by  decay  into  a  mass  that  was  taken  out  unbroken. 
On  examination  at  the  Museum  this  proved  to  have  embedded  in 
it  bundles  of  feathers,  skin  containers  and  skin  bags;  these  and 
their  contents  are  described  under  Material  Culture.  On  the 
bottom  of  the  cist  was  a  badly  shrunken,  but  complete  atlatl  and 
near  it,  but  not  in  contact  with  it,  was  a  roughly  chipped  piece  of 
quartzite  which  may  originally  have  been  tied  to  its  back.  At  one 
side  on  the  bottom  was  a  wand  with  a  yucca  braid  and  twigs 
attached  to  one  end.  Quantities  of  grass  seed,  pinon  nuts  and 
squash  seeds  were  also  found  at  the  bottom  of  the  cist. 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  5 


a,  Cradle  in  situ,  Cist  54,  White  Dog  Cave;  b,  Cave  10,  Sagiotsosi  Canyon. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  17 

Mummy  2  (male  about  35  years  of  age)  lay  on  its  left  side  with 
feet  drawn  up  tight  against  the  body;  head  east  and  facing  south. 
It  was  wrapped  in  the  same  manner  as  mummy  1  (see  plate  8). 
Inverted  over  the  body  was  a  large  pannier  basket  which  is  shown 
behind  the  front  basket  in  the  photograph  (plate  6,  a) ;  over  the 
head  was  a  bowl-shaped  basket.  A  second  basket  of  the  same 
shape  lay  just  to  one  side,  covering  the  fragments  of  a  squash  shell 
vessel.  Removing  the  pannier,  three  tray-shaped  baskets  gradu- 
ated in  size  with  the  smallest  at  the  bottom  were  found  beneath. 
The  pannier  also  partly  covered  the  remains  of  a  large  long  haired 
and  nearly  white  dog,  which  in  turn  lay  across  the  two  bowl-shaped 
baskets  (see  plate  6,  b).  There  was  also  found  under  the  pannier 
a  large  quantity  of  flies,  the  dog  having  apparently  been  already 
fly  blown  when  placed  in  the  cist.  The  eggs  evidently  hatched 
and  the  flies  died  in  the  space  under  the  carrying  basket  without 
ever  seeing  the  Hght  of  day.  We  thought  that  the  flies  might  serve 
to  fix  the  time  of  year  in  which  these  burials  were  made,  but  Mr. 
N.  Banks  of  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology,  to  whom  we 
are  indebted  for  their  identification,  informs  us  that  they  are 
Caliphora  color adensis,  a  very  hardy  species  which  flourishes  from 
early  spring  to  late  fall,  so  it  is  not  possible  to  fix  a  very  definite 
date  by  them.  The  digging  sticks  might  indicate  that  the  spring 
planting  was  in  progress,  but  this  is  of  course  mere  conjecture. 

Extending  from  the  edge  of  this  cist  on  the  east  side  was  a 
shallow  hole  just  deep  enough  and  of  sufficient  size  to  contain  the 
remains  of  a  young  infant.  Only  the  bones,  and  part  of  a  badly 
rotted  fur-string  robe  were  left. 

Cist  27.  The  unusual  plan  of  this  cist  is  shown  in  figure  5.  It 
was  dug  in  hard-pan  to  a  depth  of  2  feet  10  inches,  measured  4 
feet  9  inches  in  length  and  2  feet  6  inches  at  its  widest  point.  The 
sand  and  fill  above  had  a  depth  of  about  1  foot.  One  side  of  the 
cist  was  formed  by  the  face  of  a  vertical  break  in  the  rock  floor  of 
the  cave,  the  ledge  nearly  cropping  through  the  hard-pan  at  this 
point,  a  circumstance  which  probably  accounts  for  the  elongated 
shape,  as  the  rounded  end  seems  to  indicate  an  original  intention 
to  dig  the  conventional  circular  cist.  In  it  were  found  the  partly 
mummified  bodies  of  two  adults  placed  one  above  the  other,  facing 
in  opposite  directions  (plate  9,  a). 


18  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

Number  1,  the  uppermost,  an  adult,  probably  male,  lay  face 
down,  knees  drawn  up  and  crushed  against  the  chest,  feet  under 
hips,  left  arm  extended  at  full  length  along  the  side;  the  right 
forearm  was  bent  across  the  waist.  Number  2,  a  male  of  about 
25  years,  lay  on  the  bottom  of  the  cist  directly  under  mummy  1 
and  with  head  in  the  opposite  direction.  The  limbs  were  arranged 
in  practically  the  same  manner  as  those  of  the  upper  mummy,  the 
feet  of  which  rested  on  the  face  of  this  one. 

Accompanying  these  remains  was  a  large  number  of  specimens 
some  in  a  good  state  of  preservation,  though  objects  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  cist  and  baskets  at  the  top  and  sides  had  suffered  from 
decay.  We  were,  however,  able  to  determine  that  there  had  been 
at  least  seven  baskets,  mostly  medium  sized  trays.  In  preparing 
the  cist  to  receive  the  bodies,  a  number  of  atlatl  spear-shafts  had 
been  broken  into  various  lengths  and  placed  crisscross  on  the  bot- 
tom. On  the  upper  side  a  few  inches  out  from  the  rock  there  stood 
on  edge  a  rectangular  frame  of  sunflower  stalks  and  broken  atlatl 
spear-shafts  tied  at  right  angles  to  each  other.  Back  of  it,  also  on 
edge,  were  placed  several  tray  baskets.  On  the  opposite  side  next 
to  mummy  2  were  bundles  of  sticks  or  reeds  so  badly  shrunken 
that  their  nature  could  not  be  made  out  with  certainty;  they  were 
probably  atlatl  spear-shafts.  Placed  over  mummy  2  were  more 
spear-shafts  and  the  bundled  fragments  of  a  wooden  device,  part 
of  which  is  figured  in  plate  36,  d,  e.  At  one  side  of  mummy  1  were 
two  grooved  clubs.  Quantities  of  grass  and  squash  seed  were 
found  in  much  decayed  skin  containers;  also  a  number  of  small 
objects,  among  them  a  fine  chipped  knife  blade,  beads  of  seed  and 
stone,  pendants  of  shell  and  stone,  a  comb-like  head-ornament  and 
a  bone  handle  with  leather  strings  attached. 

Cist  30  was  a  jar-shaped  excavation  in  the  hard-pan,  15  inches 
in  diameter  at  the  top,  23  inches  in  diameter,  1  foot  below  the  rim, 
and  24  inches  in  depth.  In  it  were  the  skeletons  of  six  infants. 
Four  were  found  in  woven  bags.  Of  other  wrappings  there  re- 
mained tattered  pieces  of  dressed  skin  and  bits  of  fur-string.  Five 
imibilical  pads,  similar  to  those  from  Cist  11,  Sunflower  Cave, 
were  taken  from  various  parts  of  this  cist.  These  could  not  be 
assigned  to  individual  burials  as  the  skeletons  were  more  or  less 
mixed  as  if  the  cist  had  been  partly  rifled  in  early  times.  At  the 
bottom  were  two  cradles  in  excellent  condition.     A  few  inches 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  19 

above  these  were  about  8  quarts  of  shelled  corn;  no  trace  of  a 
container  could  be  found.  Scattered  through  the  fill  were  beads 
of  seed,  stone,  and  oUvella  shell,  a  green  stone  pendant,  a  small 
grinding  stone,  and  two  strips  of  bark,  like  the  piece  found  in  Cist 
7,  Sunflower  Cave.  Joined  to  this  cist  by  a  small  funnel-hke  hole 
was  a  second  cist,  the  same  diameter  but  not  so  deep,  while  cutting 
the  rim  of  this  was  a  thir^  and  larger  one  (Cist  33,  figure  5). 
These  were  empty;  they  form  a  good  example  of  a  number  of 
similar  arrangements  found  in  the  course  of  the  excavation  (see 
Cist  52,  figure  5) .  All  are  characterized  by  one  or  more  small  flue- 
like holes  dug  down  from  the  surface  and  penetrating  the  sides  of 
the  cist,  or,  as  in  the  case  above  noted,  connecting  small  potholes 
to  the  cist  (plate  9,  d,  and  plate  14,  a).  Sometimes  these  holes, 
instead  of  entering  the  large  cist  obhquely,  were  dug  at  nearly 
right  angles  from  the  pothole  to  the  side  of  the  larger  cist.  As  a 
rule  cists  of  this  type  were  empty  save  for  bark  or  grass  stalks. 
They  strikingly  resemble  the  field  pit-ovens  used  by  the  Hopi  for 
roasting  corn;  ^  there  are  no  indications,  however,  that  these  had 
ever  had  fires  built  in  them. 

Cist  SI  as  shown  in  the  plan,  figure  5,  was  partly  under  one  end 
of  a  large  rock.  In  order  to  reach  it  we  were  obHged  to  remove 
from  the  surface  many  others,  some  so  large  that  they  had  first  to 
be  broken  up.  The  top  of  the  cist  was  3  feet  6  inches  below  the 
surface,  its  greatest  diameter  4  feet,  depth  1  foot  10  inches.  At 
one  side  was  a  single  stone  slab.  In  the  cist  was  the  partly  munami- 
fied  body  of  an  adult,  the  bones  of  the  skeleton  held  together  by 
dried  tissue  and  caked  adobe  (plate  7,  b).  The  remains  rested 
on  the  left  side,  knees  drawn  up  level  with  chin,  hands  palms  to- 
gether under  left  cheek  and  supporting  head.  A  woven  bag  cov- 
ered the  head  and  shoulders.  It  had  been  spUt  down  the  side 
before  drawing  on,  then  sewn  together  again  with  yucca  leaves. 
A  portion  of  the  bag  was  in  good  condition.  Over  the  mouth  of 
the  munmiy  outside  the  bag,  was  tied  a  sandal  of  the  square-toed 
type.  About  the  feet  and  lower  part  of  the  body  were  the  remains 
of  a  fur-string  blanket.  The  bag  and  wrappings  were  held  in 
place  by  a  binding  of  yucca  leaves.  About  the  neck  were  seed 
beads.  Inverted  over  the  middle  of  the  body  was  a  coarse  bowl- 
shaped  basket;  under  it  lay  a  quantity  of  plant  stalks,  apparently 

1  Hough,  1019,  figure  3. 


20  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

of  Brigham  tea,  also  an  animal  bone  and  a  pointed  twig  with  a 
string  attached.  In  the  lap,  as  shown  in  plate  7,  b,  was  a  bundle 
made  up  of  two  wooden  implements,  a  foreshaft  with  stone  point, 
a  wand-hke  stick  with  a  bunch  of  reddish  fiber  tied  to  the  end,  and 
a  small  woven  object,  the  whole  wrapped  about  with  a  feather 
headdress  and  a  number  of  turns  of  fine  string  (plate  40).  The 
fill  about  the  body  was  caked  and  discolored.  Nothing  was  found 
in  the  cist  under  the  body. 

Cist  32  gave  indications  of  previous  disturbance.  It  was  dug 
in  the  hard-pan  against  the  side  of  the  cave  and  showed  more  than 
usual  care  in  the  smoothing  of  its  walls.  It  was  oval  in  shape,  3 
feet  6  inches  in  length,  2  feet  in  width,  and  2  feet  6  inches  deep. 
In  the  edge  of  the  end  opposite  the  cave  wall  was  a  shallow  groove 
perhaps  made  to  seat  a  cover.  In  the  upper  part  of  the  cist  was 
the  skeleton  of  an  infant  and  remains  of  a  small  reed-backed  cradle, 
both  too  far  gone  to  collect.  In  a  sub-excavation  at  the  bottom 
was  the  skeleton  of  a  child  about  six  years  of  age,  knees  drawn  up 
to  chin,  head  north,  face  southeast.  About  the  remains  were 
traces  of  fur-string  wrappings  and  coiled  basketry;  under  them  a 
small  quantity  of  green  powder.  This  cist  was  probably  originally 
a  storage  cist  and  perhaps  had  a  stone  slab  cover  which  fitted  into 
the  groove  at  the  end.  It  may  have  contained  at  one  time  other 
remains  than  those  found,  for  it  would  hardly  have  been  dug  for 
them  alone,  as  it  was  of  much  greater  size  than  necessary. 

Cist  85  was  not  dug  straight  into  the  hard-pan,  but  was  slightly 
undercut.  It  measured  1  foot  3  inches  across  at  the  top  and  2 
feet  6  inches  in  greatest  diameter;  the  bottom  was  rounded.  In 
it  was  the  mummy  of  a  baby  on  a  reed-backed  cradle;  the  body 
was  enclosed  in  a  bag  and  lay  on  a  twined-woven  cedar-bark  mat 
(plate  21,  d).  All  were  in  good  condition.  The  mat  appears  to 
be  part  of  an  old  cedar-bark  cradle  like  the  ones  found  in  Caves  1 
and  2  by  the  1915  expedition.^ 

Cist  40  was  a  large  jar-shaped  storage  cist  excavated  in  the  hard- 
pan.  It  was  very  symmetrical  in  shape  and  measured  2  feet  in 
diameter  at  the  top,  4  feet  in  diameter  2  feet  below  the  rim,  and 
4  feet  6  inches  in  depth  (plate  9,  b) .  The  rim  was  2  feet  below  the 
surface.  In  the  top  was  found  a  rabbit  net  tied  in  a  compact 
bundle,  together  with  a  quantity  of  apocynum  bark  done  up  in 

1  Kidder-Guernsey,  1915,  p.  165  and  plate  72. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  21 

bundles.  The  net  had  evidently  been  cached  here  after  the  cist 
was  abandoned  and  filled  up,  since  the  hole  in  which  it  rested  was 
partly  dug  in  the  hard-pan  at  the  edge  of  the  cist,  and  partly  in 
the  fill  of  th6  cist  itself.  In  clearing  the  cist  a  thick  layer  of  cedar 
bark  was  found  1  foot  from  the  bottom;  below  it  was  clean  sand. 
One  foot  from  the  rim  on  the  side  opposite  the  net  there  was  a  pot- 
hole, 1  foot  in  diameter  and  the  same  in  depth. 

The  rabbit  net,  a  remarkable  specimen,  is  described  in  detail  in 
another  place.  Its  lack  of  definite  relation  to  the  cist  or  to  other 
Basket-maker  remains  at  first  raised  a  doubt  in  the  authors'  minds 
as  to  whether  it  might  not  have  belonged  to  a  later  period.  On 
the  other  hand  it  will  be  remembered  that  a  very  similar  excava- 
tion at  the  side  of  Cist  24  contained  the  remains  of  a  Basket- 
maker  infant. 

Cist  4-1  gave  evidence  of  previous  disturbance.  On  clearing  it 
a  small  niche  was  found  in  one  side  that  contained  the  remains  of 
an  infant,  a  small  basket,  a  skin  covered  object  (imibihcal  pad) 
and  the  usual  fur-string  robe. 

Cist  51,  3  feet  6  inches  deep,  and  2  feet  6  inches  in  diameter,  was 
constructed  of  slabs  set  about  the  sides  of  a  shallow  excavation  in 
the  hard-pan.  It  contained  the  skeletons  of  an  adult  and  an  infant. 
The  former  lay  on  its  right  side,  head  south.  The  infant  rested 
across  the  breast  and  left  arm  of  the  adult  and  had  been  wrapped 
in  a  fur-string  blanket  and  placed  in  a  skin  bag.  Both  blanket 
and  bag  were  in  an  advanced  state  of  decay.  There  were  traces 
of  a  woven  bag  that  had  once  covered  the  remains  of  the  adult. 
At  one  side  of  the  cist  near  the  head  of  the  adult  was  a  small  bowl- 
basket  containing  beads  and  a  variety  of  small  objects,  which  are 
described  elsewhere.  There  were  also  in  the  cist  food  offerings 
of  corn  and  pinon  nuts. 

Cist  54'  After  removing  from  the  surface  a  large  number  of 
rocks,  the  fill  under  the  end  of  the  great  rock  in  the  center  of  the 
cave  was  explored.  Here,  2  feet  below  the  under  side  of  the  rock 
in  what  appeared  to  be  a  rude  cist,  there  was  found  a  cradle  in  ex- 
cellent condition.  With  it  were  fragments  of  fur-string  blankets 
and  pieces  of  woven  bags,  but  no  trace  of  a  body.  The  photo- 
graph, plate  5,  a,  shows  the  cradle  in  situ.  The  thin  edge  of  the 
rock  had  been  broken  off  somewhat  before  the  picture  was  taken; 
it  originally  extended  nearly  a  foot  further  than  is  shown.    The 


22  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

rock  may  have  broken  from  the  roof  centuries  ago  or  in  very  recent 
times.  The  cradle,  however,  must  have  been  in  the  position  in 
which  it  was  found  when  the  fall  occurred. 

Summing  up  the  evidence  as  to  mortuary  customs  contained  in 
the  foregoing  descriptions,  we  see  that  the  bodies  were  placed  in 
cists  of  three  sorts:  jar-shaped  excavations,  whose  primary  pur- 
pose seems  to  have  been  for  storage;  larger,  shallower  pits  appar- 
ently dug  expressly  to  contain  burials;  and  slab  cists  of  the  type 
illustrated  in  plate  9,  c.  Almost  every  cist  held  more  than  one 
individual  and  all  the  indications  pointed  to  the  interments  having 
been  made  simultaneously.^ 

The  bodies  of  adults  were  always  wrapped  in  fur-string  blankets 
and  at  the  loins  of  most  females  were  small  string  aprons. 
The  Hmbs  were  flexed  to  occupy  the  least  possible  space  and  oc- 
casionally held  in  that  position  by  cords.  The  bundles  thus  pre- 
pared were  encased  in  large  woven  bags,  which  were  cut  down  one 
side  for  greater  ease  in  drawing  on,  and  then  stitched  together 
again  with  yucca  leaves.  Babies  were  sometimes  placed  in  bags, 
but  were  more  commonly  buried  on  their  cradles  with  their 
blankets,  umbilical  pads  and  '' diapers"  of  bast  in  place  as  in  life. 

No  fixed  manner  of  orienting  the  remains  was  adhered  to,  this 
detail  having  been  decided,  apparently,  by  the  manner  in  which 
the  body  best  accommodated  itself  to  the  shape  and  size  of  the  cist. 

Mortuary  offerings  were  numerous  and  varied  and  seem  fairly 
representative  of  the  food,  implements,  weapons  and  ornaments 
of  daily  Hfe  together  with  some  objects  of  a  ceremonial  nature. 
The  standard  gift  to  the  dead  was  basketry;  tray  baskets  were 
practically  always  inverted  over  the  heads  of  adults,  often  over 
children;  large  panniers  also  served  as  covers;  and  smaller  baskets, 
empty  or  filled  with  trinkets,  were  generously  piled  into  the  graves. 

Kiva  (?).  There  remains  to  describe  a  peculiar  and  puzzling 
room  found  at  the  front  of  the  cave  (see  figure  5).  The  first  inti- 
mation of  its  existence  came  when,  in  clearing  the  surface  above 
what  proved  later  to  be  the  ventilator  shaft,  the  wall  of  the  main 
structure  was  exposed.  The  room,  as  shown  in  the  plan,  lies  at 
the  foot  of  the  great  rock  pile  which  rises  at  a  sharp  angle  to  the 

1  The  same  thing  was  noted  in  Sunflower  Cave  (Cists  7  and  11);  in  Cave  1  Kinboko 
(Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  p.  83)  and  in  the  Sayodneechee  burial  cave  (Ibid.  p.  29) ;  at  the  latter 
site  there  were  more  individuals  per  grave  than  in  any  of  the  others,  one  cist  holding  no  less 
than  19  bodies;   all,  apparently,  buried  at  one  time. 


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OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA 


23 


back  of  the  cave.  It  was  owing  to  the  imminent  danger  of  rock 
slides  from  this  source  that  we  were  unable  to  excavate  the  room 
completely,  either  in  1916  or  on  a  second  visit  to  the  cave  in  1917, 
when  another  attempt  was  made  to  do  so. 

This  chamber  is,  and  apparently  always  was,  entirely  subter- 
ranean. The  part  that  we  were  able  to  clear  is  irregularly  circular. 
The  room  is  sunk  through  the  surface  sand  and  into  the  hard-pan, 
which,  standing  as  dug,  forms  the  lower  part  of  the  wall  (see 
figure  7,  b).    The  upper  wall  is  masonry  of  rough  and  irregular 


Figure  7 
White  Dog  Cave:  Plan  and  Cross-section  of  Kiva. 


stones  laid  with  little  attempt  to  preserve  a  smooth  face  either 
within  or  without.  At  one  point  on  the  east  side  two  upright  slabs 
were  set  in  and  the  wall  was  built  on  them.  The  top  courses  are 
somewhat  more  carefully  constructed.  Adobe  mortar  is  used, 
sparingly  below,  more  abundantly  above.  The  whole  structure  is 
thickly  "spalled"  with  small  fragments  of  stone  wedged  into  the 
cracks. 

The  general  shape  of  the  wall,  partly  straight,  partly  curved,  can 
best  be  seen  in  the  plan  and  section.  The  southern  offset,  which 
in  the  plan  has  the  appearance  of  a  bench  or  banquette,  we  are 
incUned  to  think  was  not  a  part  of  the  original  design  of  the  build- 
ers, but  was  made  necessary  by  the  occurrence  here  of  an  outcrop- 
ping of  the  ledge,  the  upper  surface  of  which  slanted  inward  at  too 


24  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

great  an  angle  to  furnish  a  stable  foundation  for  a  wall  along  the 
inner  edge.  At  any  rate,  the  offset  overcame  this  difficulty, 
though  for  some  reason,  instead  of  continuing  the  wall  as  before, 
of  laid-up  stones,  stone  slabs  set  on  end  were  used.  We  do  not 
know  whether  or  not  this  method  of  construction  is  continued 
under  the  rock  pile.  Placed  across  the  top  of  the  slabs  was  a  stout 
log,  one  end  resting  on  the  top  of  the  offset,  the  other  passing  out 
of  sight  under  the  rock  heap.  It  is  possible  that  the  entrance  to  the 
room  was  at  this  point,  as  the  sloping  surface  of  the  ledge  here  is 
very  smooth  as  if  from  wear.  South  of  the  offset  and  outside  the 
room  we  found  slabs,  set  at  right  angles  to  the  wall,  and  three  up- 
right stakes  burned  off  close  to  the  adobe  in  which  they  were  em- 
bedded. There  was  a  large  amount  of  charcoal  in  this  area.  The 
slabs  of  the  offset  wall  and  those  outside  were  much  blackened  by 
smoke. 

On  the  east  side  of  the  room  2  feet  above  the  floor,  there  is  a 
small  opening  leading  through  the  wall  into  a  ventilating  shaft. 
This  orifice  is  five  and  one-half  inches  high  by  eight  inches  wide; 
it  has  two  slender,  round  lintel  sticks  running  across  its  top,  their 
ends  embedded  in  the  masonry  at  either  side  (figure  7,  b).  All  the 
edges  of  the  opening  are  neatly  finished  off  with  adobe,  the  corners 
carefully  rounded.  On  the  floor  of  the  room,  nearly  in  front  of  this 
hole,  lay  a  thin  slab  of  rock  measuring  11  by  12  inches;  on  trial  it 
was  found  to  fit  exactly  into  grooves  around  the  hole  that  had 
obviously  been  made  for  it  (plate  10,  b). 

The  horizontal  shaft,  to  which  the  opening  gave  access,  extended 
out  from  the  wall  for  a  distance  of  3  feet  6  inches.  It  was  built  of 
flat  stones  set  on  either  side  with  their  bases  together  and  their 
tops  slanting  outward,  making  a  V-shaped  trough  2  feet  6  inches 
wide  across  the  top.  This  was  roofed  over  with  short  stout  logs 
covered  with  cedar  bark,  brush  and  coarse  grass,  the  whole  held 
down  by  flat  rocks.  The  photograph,  plate  11,  b,  shows  the  east 
end  of  the  shaft  with  its  log  roofing.  Behind  and  above  may  be 
seen  the  outside  of  the  top  courses  of  the  wall  of  the  main  room,  the 
position  of  which  is  also  indicated  by  the  dotted  fine  in  plate  11,  a. 
There  is  no  trace  of  a  vertical  flue  connecting  this  horizontal  pas- 
sage with  the  surface.  The  pitch  of  the  deposit  is  so  steep  here 
that  it  is  probable  that  such  a  shaft  was  unnecessary,  and  that  the 
horizontal  passage  ran  straight  through  to  the  outer  air. 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  9 


b 


-_i  "~kTTv^#^.  "a^  .  ^'f 'r'~"7-~-^c=?^^- 


I  Hard  pan 

IlillMllll 


'^ 


Types  of  Basket-maker  cists:  a,  b,  d,  White  Dog  Cave;  c,  Cave  6;  e,  f ,  Cave  14, 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  26 

The  floor  of  the  room  itself,  as  far  as  we  were  able  to  lay  it  bare, 
was  of  hard  packed  adobe  with  a  smooth  but  uneven  surface. 
At  what  seems  to  have  been  a  little  east  of  the  middle  of  the  room 
there  is  a  firepit,  a  saucer-shaped  depression  in  the  floor  with  a 
neatly  made  coping  or  rim  of  hard  baked  adobe  (plate  10  a).  It 
was  filled  to  the  brim  with  clean  white  ashes.  In  outline  the  pit 
is  a  perfect  circle,  2  feet  in  diameter;  the  rim  is  raised  3  inches 
above  the  floor,  and  the  bottom  is  somewhat  scooped  out  giving  a 
depth  of  5  inches  to  the  center  of  the  pit. 

At  the  floor  level  in  the  back  of  the  room  is  an  oval  niche  dug 
horizontally  12  inches  into  the  hard-pan  of  the  wall,  and  measuring 
18  inches  across  the  front  (see  figure  7,  b).  There  are  two  holes 
five  and  one-half  inches  in  diameter  and  twelve  inches  deep,  dug 
in  the  floor,  one  at  the  angle  of  the  back  and  east  wall,  the  other  at 
the  front  directly  opposite.  So  close  are  these  holes  set  to  the  wall 
that  at  the  back  the  sides  of  the  holes  are  continued  up  through 
the  adobe  of  the  wall  for  some  6  inches.  For  this  reason  we  are 
quite  sure  they  are  intended  for  post-holes  though  no  post  ends 
were  found  in  them. 

The  filling  of  the  room  was  entirely  free  from  rocks,  showing  that 
the  great  pile  that  now  covers  its  rear  portions  and  its  northeast 
wall  must  have  fallen  after  the  place  had  already  been  deserted 
for  a  long  time.  On  the  floor  was  a  3-inch  bed  of  pure  sand;  above 
this  was  an  equal  amount  of  coarse  brush  and  charcoal,  topped  by 
a  layer  of  cedar  bark.  The  remaining  4  feet  6  inches  to  the  sur- 
face was  a  homogeneous  deposit  composed  of  equal  parts  of  rat 
dung  and  sand,  laid  down  in  perfectly  regular,  thread-hke  hori- 
zontal strata,  separated  from  each  other  by  thin  layers  of  clean 
wind-blown  sand. 

The  peculiar  make-up  of  this  fill  has  been  a  matter  of  much  dis- 
cussion between  the  authors.  A  plausible  history  of  the  fill  might 
be  that  the  room,  with  roof  still  intact,  was  abandoned  for  a  period 
sufficient  to  allow  the  three-inch  layer  of  clean  sand  to  sift  in  and 
accumulate  on  the  original  floor,  after  which  it  was  retenanted  for 
a  short  time,  the  brush  and  bark  brought  in,  and  fires  built,  then 
vacated  finally  by  man  to  become  the  rendezvous  of  rats  through 
the  long  period  which  must  have  been  required  to  build  up  the  deep 
deposit  of  rat  dung  and  sand  found  in  it.  During  this  latter  period 
the  roof  remained;  otherwise,  instead  of  thin  regular  layers  of  ap- 


26  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

parently  sifted  sand,  there  would  have  been  sand  deposits  of  vary- 
ing thickness,  marking  the  occurrence  of  high  winds  such  as  we 
experienced  while  at  work  in  the  cave.  Finally,  and  prior  to  the 
falUng  of  the  rocks  from  the  ceiUng  of  the  cave,  there  came  other 
visitors  who  found  the  roof  a  convenient  source  of  fuel  supply  thus 
accounting  for  its  complete  disappearance. 

Such  a  long  discussion  on  the  foregoing  may  appear  unnecessary, 
but  any  condition  which  marks  the  lapse  of  time  seems  worthy  of 
careful  consideration. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  we  were  unable  to  clear  this  room  com- 
pletely as  there  may  be  concealed  beneath  the  debris  which  still 
covers  the  unexplored  portion  some  evidence  that  would  settle 
definitely  the  question  of  whether  it  is  the  work  of  the  people  who 
excavated  the  cists  and  buried  their  dead  here,  or  of  the  Chff- 
dwellers  who  came  after.  Such  artifacts  as  were  found  in  it  are  of 
little  assistance  in  identifying  the  builders  since  they  are  either 
devoid  of  character  or  of  such  a  nature  as  might  easily  have  been 
dragged  into  it  by  rats.  Outside  the  wall  on  the  northeast  and 
east  sides  we  found  some  evidence  of  disturbance,  such  as  might 
have  been  made  in  excavating  for  the  foundation  of  the  room,  and 
in  this  disturbed  area,  close  against  the  wall,  lay  two  sandals  with 
side-loops,  of  a  type  quite  common  in  cliff-dwelUngs  but  which  we 
have  not  yet  found  directly  associated  with  Basket-maker  remains. 
One  of  these  was  touching  the  wall  at  a  depth  of  about  3  feet  below 
the  surface. 

Had  the  chamber  just  described  been  found  in  a  pueblo  or  cliff- 
dwelUng,  it  would  have  occasioned  no  particular  surprise,  for  while 
its  ventilator  opening  is  smaller  and  higher  set  than  usual  and  the 
V-shaped  horizontal  passage  is  of  unfamiliar  construction,  yet  the 
mere  presence  of  a  ventilating  apparatus,  the  adobe  rimmed  fire- 
place full  of  white  ashes,  and  the  subterranean  situation  of  the 
room  itself  are  all  features  perfectly  normal  in  Cliff-dweller  kivas. 
Furthermore  the  kivas  of  this  particular  district  are  typically  vari- 
able and  unspecialized.i  The  sandals  seem  to  be  Cliff-dweller  and 
to  have  been  left  where  found  while  the  wall  was  under  construc- 
tion. All  these  things  point  to  an  origin  subsequent  to  that  of 
the  Basket-maker  cists.  On  the  other  hand  we  have  never  seen, 
nor  have  we  read  of,  a  kiva  built  as  is  this  room  all  by  itself 

»  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  p.  201. 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  10 


White  Dog  Cave:  a,  Interior  of  kiva;  b,  Ventilator  cover  in  kiva;  d,  Baskets  in  Cist  22; 
e,  Objects  in  Cist  13.     Sunflower  Cave:  c,  Skeletons  in  Cist  7. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  27 

with  no  living-chambers  in  the  vicinity.  All  kivas  with  which  we 
are  familiar  form  integral  parts  of  house-clusters.  The  only 
surely  identifiable  CHff-dweller  remains  found  in  the  cave  are 
enumerated  as  follows: 

A  storage  room  foundation  was  built  on  the  sloping  rock  floor 
against  the  west  side  of  the  cave  (see  figure  5) ;  it  measured  5  feet 
in  length,  2  in  width  and  consisted  of  a  low  wall,  8  to  10  inches 
high,  the  stones  mudded  in  with  adobe  mortar.  In  the  enclosure 
was  a  bed  of  plant  stalks,  "  Brigham  tea  " ;  the  floor  is  bare  uneven 
rock.  We  collected  in  the  top  sand  of  the  cave  a  few  handfuls  of 
Cliff-dweller  potsherds,  for  the  most  part  plain  gray  and  black-and- 
white  ware,  and  a  few  pieces  of  feather  string.  A  small  corrugated 
pot  covered  by  a  flat  stone  was  found  cached  in  the  sand  1  foot 
6  inches  below  the  surface;  the  mouth  had  been  sealed  with  adobe 
mudded  on  to  corn  cobs,  but  this  had  crumbled  and  was  found  at 
the  bottom  of  the  jar.  About  the  jar  was  a  harness,  made,  with  the 
exception  of  one  short  section,  of  CUff-dweller  feather  string. 
The  short  piece  is  apparently  Basket-maker  fur-string  and  was 
probably  a  stray  bit  picked  up  from  the  surface. 

The  above  is  not  an  imposing  Ust  and  leads  us  to  doubt  that  the 
place  was  ever  regularly  used  as  a  dwelUng  by  the  Cliff-house 
people.  As  to  the  identity  of  the  kiva-Uke  room,  the  writers  them- 
selves are  not  agreed;  the  senior  author  beUeves  that  it  may  pos- 
sibly be  of  Basket-maker  origin,  the  junior  considers  it  surely 
CUff-dweller,  but  can  offer  no  explanation  for  its  isolated  situation. 


28  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

FIELD  WORK,  SEASON  OF  1917 

Reaching  Kayenta  by  the  usual  route  via  Farmington,  New 
Mexico,  and  the  Chinlee,  the  party  first  attempted  explorations 
near  Sayodneechee  Canyon  in  Monument  Valley,  but  was  forced 
by  lack  of  water  to  abandon  the  work  after  a  few  caves  had  been 
examined.  Returning  to  Kayenta  the  exploration  of  the  South 
Comb  was  resumed.  White  Dog  Cave  was  revisited  and  an  unsuc- 
cessful attempt  was  made  to  move  the  rocks  from  above  the  kiva- 
like  room.  Two  new  caves  were  discovered  and  investigated. 
Again  forced  to  move  by  lack  of  water,  the  remainder  of  the  season 
was  spent  in  Sagiotsosi  Canyon,  where  nine  caves  were  either 
wholly  or  partly  explored  (see  map,  figure  1). 

SAYODNEECHEE  CANYON 

This  is  one  of  the  nimierous  short  canyons  which  head  near  the 
Agathla  rock  and  run  northward  into  Monument  Valley. 
Although  it  is  without  living  water,  the  Navajo  are  able  to  culti- 
vate corn  in  certain  places.  In  the  winter,  rain  and  melting  snow 
furnish  sufficient  drinking  water  for  the  Indians  and  their  flocks; 
and  in  some  years  enough  of  this  is  held  in  pockets  among  the  rocks 
to  last  until  the  showers  of  July  and  August.  Generally,  however, 
these  natural  reservoirs  go  dry  in  June  and  the  Navajo  must  move 
away  for  a  month  or  so  to  some  more  favored  locality,  returning 
after  the  rains  to  harvest  their  crops. 

Aside  from  its  dryness,  Sayodneechee  is  a  most  attractive  place; 
the  scenery  is  magnificent,  grass  and  firewood  are  abundant,  and 
the  cliffs  contain  many  caves  to  tempt  the  archaeologist's  shovel. 

Caves  3,  4  and  5  are  in  a  break  of  the  rock  ridge  that  forms  the 
west  wall  of  Sayodneechee  Canyon,  and  are  nearly  opposite  the 
Basket-maker  burial  cave  in  the  above  canyon  excavated  by  the 
1914  expedition. 1 

Cave  3  is  a  mere  shelter  measuring  15  feet  in  depth  by  30  feet 
in  width.  The  wash  of  a  small  canyon  has  cut  away  the  floor  at 
the  front.  On  the  back  wall  are  a  number  of  pictographs  done  in 
white,  red,  and  yellow  paint;  some  of  these  are  reproduced  in 
plate  13,  a.  We  found  several  slab  cists  buried  beneath  the  sand 
floor.    They  contained  nothing  except  cedar  bark. 

1  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  p.  27  and  jBgure  1. 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  11 


White  Dog  Cave 
a,  Rock  pile  in  center  of  cave;  b,  Southern  wall  and  ventilator  in  kiva. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  29 

Cave  4,  a  short  distance  up  the  canyon,  is  20  feet  above  the 
wash.  It  has  a  depth  of  12  feet  and  measures  about  24  feet 
across  the  front.  The  floor  is  of  hard-pan  free  from  surface  sand. 
In  it  are  a  nimiber  of  small  cists  or  pot-holes.  At  the  front  the 
hard-pan  formation  has  a  vertical  break,  in  which  is  dug  a  small 
cubby  hole  measuring  4  feet  in  depth  by  3  feet  6  inches  in  width. 
At  the  entrance  to  this  little  room,  shown  at  the  left  in  plate  12,  a, 
are  a  mrniber  of  flat  slabs  arranged  like  steps,  a  single  slab  2  feet 
long  and  8  inches  wide  serving  for  a  sill.  There  are  several  small 
holes  dug  through  the  top  of  the  room  to  the  sm-face  above.  The 
largest  of  these  holes  is  plugged  with  a  rock. 

A  httle  further  along  the  cUff  is  a  rectangular  CUff-dweller  room, 
the  dimensions  of  which  are,  length  12  feet,  width  7  feet,  height 
of  wall  6  feet  6  inches.  In  the  center  of  the  front  wall  is  a  door- 
way 29  inches  high,  16  inches  wide.  At  the  top  is  a  flat  stone  slab 
lintel  supported  by  two  round  sticks  built  into  the  wall,  another 
slab  serves  as  a  sill.  The  edges  have  grooves  or  jambs  for  the  re- 
ception of  a  slab  door.  The  masonry  of  this  room  is  good.  There 
were  no  pictographs.  Potsherds  were  plentiful  and  along  the  cUff 
near  the  room  there  was  some  rubbish  and  a  number  of  ash  beds. 

Cave  5  is  still  further  up  the  canyon.  It  measures  45  feet  across 
the  front,  and  15  feet  in  depth.  At  the  back  are  the  foundations 
of  a  room  10  feet  long  by  6  feet  wide  built  out  from  the  cliff.  The 
masonry  is  of  stones  laid  flat  in  adobe  mortar.  Two  slab  cists  and 
two  cists  dug  in  the  hard-pan  floor  were  found  in  the  cave,  but  no 
specimens. 

Near  the  sites  just  described  is  a  small  shelter  on  the  ground 
level  of  such  insignificant  size  that  no  number  was  assigned  to  it 
in  our  field  notes.  We  dug  here,  however,  and  at  a  depth  of  one 
foot  below  the  surface  found  two  slab  cists  partly  filled  with  cedar 
bark.  These  were  undoubtedly  storage  cists,  as  near  by  is  a  Navajo 
cornfield,  located  in  a  small  basin  which  collects  and  retains  such 
water  as  in  time  of  rain  runs  off  the  surrounding  chffs,  an  advantage 
probably  recognized  by  the  early  occupants  of  the  region  as  readily 
as  by  the  present  day  farmers. 

The  principal  structures  in  these  caves  are  of  course  Cliff- 
dweller.  The  slab  cists  and  possibly  some  of  those  excavated  in 
the  hard-pan  we  are  inclined  to  think  are  Basket-maker.  No  great 
amount  of  work  was  done  at  any  of  the  sites,  as  we  were  on  such 


30  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

short  rations  of  water  that  our  examination  really  only  amounted 
to  a  reconnoissance.  Continued  drought  finally  drove  us  away, 
and  we  returned  to  the  South  Comb. 


SOUTH  COMB  REVISITED 

Cave  6.  This  site  is  in  the  next  break  in  the  Comb  north  of 
White  Dog  Cave,  a  distance  of  about  one  mile  in  an  air  hne.  It 
consists  of  a  small  alcove  at  the  back  of  a  huge  crescent-shaped  bay 
or  cove  in  the  cliff  wall.  Filling  the  open  end  of  the  crescent  and 
hiding  the  cave  from  view  in  front  is  a  high  sand  hill  covered  by 
a  growth  of  thick  brush  and  tall  pines.  The  cliff  on  either  side  of 
the  cave  overhangs,  sheltering  a  wide  strip  along  the  wall  some 
fifteen  feet  lower  than  the  floor  level  of  the  cave  proper.  On  this 
level  to  the  left  of  the  entrance  there  is  part  of  a  roughly  laid  wall, 
built  against  the  cliff.  It  forms  a  small  enclosure  and  is  probably 
the  work  of  Navajo  herders  or  possibly  Ute,  as  on  the  smooth  cave 
wall  back  of  it  are  a  number  of  drawings  in  charcoal  (plate  13,  f), 
one  of  which,  a  female  figure,  is  shown  wearing  a  dress  that  has 
characteristic  features  of  the  Ute  woman's  dress.  Inside  this  en- 
closure were  traces  of  recent  fires  and  on  the  surface  was  a  small 
mudded-up  fire  pit,  which  gave  us  the  impression  of  having  been 
the  work  of  children. 

The  walls  and  ceiUng  of  the  inner  cave  are  much  blackened  by 
smoke.  It  had  been  used  as  a  sheep  shelter  and  the  old  floor  was 
covered  by  a  thick  layer  of  dung.  The  most  careful  search  of  the 
surface  on  the  first  level  and  the  bank  leading  up  to  the  cave 
proper  failed  to  produce  a  single  Cliff-dweller  artifact  and  our 
excavations  later  showed  not  a  vestige  of  Cliff-dweller  occupation. 
Here  for  the  first  time  we  had  a  cave  containing  only  Basket- 
maker  remains,  and  while  but  a  few  specimens  were  found  they 
were  for  the  most  part  very  true  to  type,  the  exceptions  being  en- 
tirely new  material.  A  single  burial  was  encountered.  This  was 
in  a  stone  slab  cist  (plate  9,  c),  exactly  Uke  those  found  in  such 
numbers  in  Cave  1,  Kinboko  (1915).  Unfortunately,  however,  it 
had  not  only  been  plimdered  at  some  early  date,  but  what  re- 
mained of  its  contents  had  been  partly  destroyed  by  fire.  The  top 
of  the  cist  was  18  inches  below  the  surface.  It  measured  3  feet 
4  inches  in  diameter  at  the  top,  2  feet  6  inches  in  diameter  at  the 


Peabodt  Museum  Papeirs 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  12 


a,  Structures  in  Cave  4  Sayodneechee  Canyon;  b,  Cists  in  Cave  14,  Sagiotsosi  Canyon. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  31 

bottom,  and  was  2  feet,  4  inches  deep.  Ten  slabs  were  used  in  its 
construction.  In  the  upper  part  was  a  quantity  of  cedar  bark  and 
a  few  bones  from  the  skeleton  of  a  child,  then  a  mass  of  charcoal 
and  charred  wood  in  which  were  fragments  of  human  bones.  On 
the  bottom  at  one  side  was  a  partly  burned  cradle  frame,  and  the 
mummified  foot  of  an  adult.  Other  objects  found  scattered  in  the 
fill  are  as  follows:  fragments  of  fur-string  robe,  dressed  skin  robe, 
twined-woven  grass  mat,  string  apron,  a  sandal,  an  atlatl,  a  grooved 
club,  a  skin-covered  umbilical  pad,  the  bark  core  of  another,  a  skin 
bag,  a  bunch  of  human  hair,  a  fragment  of  squash  shell,  and  many 
small  bits  that  could  not  be  identified.  All  these  specimens  were 
more  or  less  charred. 

But  one  other  slab  cist  was  encountered.  Its  only  unusual  fea- 
ture was  a  bottom  lining  of  thin  slabs  of  spruce  bark. 

Nearly  all  the  level  portion  of  the  cave  floor  was  occupied  by  a 
deep  ash  bed  in  which  only  a  few  minor  specimens  were  found. 
Just  outside  this  area  at  a  depth  of  1  foot  6  inches  was  a  tray 
basket,  and  buried  in  the  loose  fill  near  it  at  about  the  same  depth 
was  the  small  woven  bag  in  which  was  the  little  skin  pouch  shown 
with  its  contents  in  plate  44. 

On  the  right  of  the  cave  the  floor  rises  and  narrows  until  it  gives 
place  to  a  mere  bank  of  debris  piled  up  against  the  back  wall.  At 
the  highest  point  of  this  bank  and  next  to  the  wall,  three  deer  or 
possibly  moimtain-sheep  snares  were  found.  They  had  been 
cached  in  a  shallow  hole  scooped  out  of  the  fill,  and  were  covered 
with  cedar  bark  and  a  thin  layer  of  dirt.  These  snares  are  new 
items  in  our  Basket-maker  list.  They  are  described  and  figured 
in  another  place  (plate  32) .  A  few  feet  from  where  the  tray  basket 
was  found,  and  at  the  same  depth,  were  three  sherds  of  a  substance 
resembhng  pottery  of  unbaked  clay,  tempered  with  shredded  cedar 
bark,  and  bearing  on  one  side  the  imprint  of  coiled  basketry 
(plate  25,  a).  This  may  really  be  a  primitive  form  of  pottery  or 
may  represent  only  some  left-over  material  for  smearing  joints 
in  a  slab  cist,  which  was  prepared  outside  the  cave  where  both 
water  and  clay  could  be  had,  and  then  brought  into  the  cave,  while 
soft,  in  a  convenient  tray  basket,  from  which  it  was  not  removed 
until  it  had  hardened  by  drying.  It  is  the  nearest  approach  to 
pottery  we  have  yet  encountered  under  circumstances  that  would 
free  it  from  suspicion  of  Cliff-dweller  origin.    Mr.  John  Wetherill, 


32 


BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 


to  whom  it  was  shown,  said  it  recalled  the  pottery  found  in  the 
Basket-maker  caves  of  Grand  Gulch.  This,  according  to  McLloyd 
and  Graham's  description  as  quoted  by  Pepper,^  was  '^  a  very 


Figure  8 
Cross-section  of  Cave  7,  South  Comb. 


crude,  unglazed  ware,  some  of  the  bowls  showing  the  imprint  of 
the  baskets  in  which  they  were  formed." 

As  stated  before,  all  our  work  in  this  cave  brought  to  light  not 
one  trace  of  Cliff-dweller  occupation,  which  includes  not  only 
potsherds,  but  also  turkey  droppings  and  turkey  feathers,  beans 

1  1902,  p.  9. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  33 

and  rubbish  layers.  Hence  the  collection  obtained  here,  though 
not  extensive,  is  important  as  it  supplies  unmixed  material  with 
which  to  check  our  previous  identifications. 

Cave  7.  About  one  mile  north  of  Cave  6,  we  found  another 
shelter  very  similar  to  it,  except  that  it  lacked  the  alcove  room  at 
the  back.  A  steep  hill  rises  directly  in  front  of  it.  The  slope  of 
the  hill  next  to  the  cliff  lies  almost  wholly  inside  the  fine  of  shelter 
and  its  base  at  that  point  is  cut  away  by  an  arroyo  which  continues 
along  the  wall  for  some  distance.  This  seemed  a  very  unpromising 
site,  but  on  investigation  we  found  a  mmiber  of  slab  storage  cists 
filled  with  cedar  bark  or  grass,  located  as  shown  in  the  cross- 
section,  figure  8.  No  Cliff-dweller  remains  were  found  here  and 
only  two  Basket-maker  specimens.  These  were  the  digging  sticks 
shown  in  plate  37,  e,  f.  This  shelter  seemed  never  to  have  been 
used  as  a  place  of  abode  for  any  great  period  as  we  found  no  exten- 
sive ash  bed.  Perhaps  it  was  conveniently  near  some  cornfield  and 
was  used  only  for  storage  purposes  or  as  a  temporary  dweUing 
place  while  farming  was  in  progress. 

By  the  time  that  the  work  in  Cave  7  was  completed,  the  water 
in  this  section  had  become  so  bad  that  we  were  again  forced  to 
move. 

SAGIOTSOSI  CANYON 

Sagiotsosi  Canyon,  though  small  in  size  compared  with  many 
others  in  this  region,  exceeds  all  that  the  writers  have  visited  in 
the  number  of  caves  to  be  found  in  it  and  its  branches.  Its  scenery 
is  exceedingly  picturesque,  and  it  is  rendered  doubly  attractive  in 
this  parched  land  by  a  stream  of  clear  cold  water  fed  by  numerous 
springs  that  emerge  from  the  base  of  the  cHff s  on  either  side  at  the 
upper  end.  This  stream  flows  the  entire  length  of  the  canyon 
finally  to  disappear  in  the  thirsty  sands  just  outside  the  entrance. 
In  one  place  where  it  has  cut  a  deep  arroyo,  a  dark  peat-Uke 
stratum  can  be  seen  in  the  vertical  sides  of  the  cut,  marking  an  old 
lake  bottom  that  probably  once  provided  a  natural  reservoir  for 
the  ancient  inhabitants.  Today  a  number  of  well-irrigated  Navajo 
cornfields  and  thrifty  peach  orchards  show  the  water  supply  to  be 
still  ample  for  the  requirements  of  primitive  farming. 

The  caves  in  the  main  canyon  are  for  the  most  part  high  up 
under  the  rim-rock  and  are  perhaps  more  properly  described  as 
shelters.    Some  are  of  huge  size  with  high  arched  openings,  but  of 


34  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

no  great  depth.  Occasionally  they  occur  in  groups  of  three  or 
four,  quite  close  together.  To  enter  them  one  must  first  climb 
over  huge  fallen  rocks  to  the  first  bench  of  the  cHff ,  then  up  a  steep 
talus  of  finer  detritus  to  the  caves,  the  bottoms  or  floors  of  which 
are  really  nothing  but  the  truncated  apex  of  the  talus.  Several  of 
these  caves  have  in  them  small  Cliff-dweller  structures.  A  number 
have  already  been  explored  by  Professor  Cimmiings.^ 

On  the  right  about  half  way  up  the  canyon  and  high  in  the  cliff 
is  a  fair  sized  cliff-dwelHng  which  to  date  has  not  been  excavated. 
An  interesting  feature  of  this  ruin  is  a  tower  that  commands  every 
approach  to  the  cave.  A  cursory  examination  indicated  that  the 
roof  had  been  destroyed  by  fire.  On  the  back  wall  of  the  cave  is 
a  pictograph  similar  to  the  one  illustrated  in  plate  13,  e. 

Cave  8.  This  cave  is  in  the  first  branch-canyon  leading  out  of 
Sagiotsosi  to  the  west.  It  is  in  reaUty  a  shelter  under  the  over- 
hang of  the  cliff,  30  feet  in  width,  some  70  feet  in  length  and  about 
25  feet  above  the  bed  of  the  wash.  There  is  in  it  ample  evidence 
of  CHff-dweller  occupation,  consisting  of  some  foundation  walls, 
a  good  depth  of  rubbish,  with  many  potsherds,  and  a  number  of 
CUff-dweller  pictographs  (plate  13,  d,  e) ;  there  is  also  a  square- 
shouldered  human  figure  done  in  white  and  yellow  paint.  This 
shows  very  faintly  and  a  small  Cliff-dweller  painting  of  a  snake 
overlaps  it  in  one  place  (d).  It  was  this  square-shouldered  picto- 
graph that  induced  us  to  dig  here,  as  our  previous  experience  had 
shown  these  figures  to  be  of  Basket-maker  origin. 

Our  excavations  disclosed  considerable  CHff-dweller  rubbish 
with  hard-pan  below  it  in  which  we  found  a  number  of  cists,  empty 
except  for  cedar  bark  or  coarse  grass.  These  cists  and  the  square- 
shouldered  figure  are  the  only  remaining  evidences  of  Basket- 
maker  occupation.  From  the  general  digging  we  obtained  a  num- 
ber of  Cliff-dweller  specimens  including  the  skeleton  of  a  young 
child  on  a  perfectly  preserved  cradle  which  had  been  buried  under 
the  rocks  at  the  top  of  the  bank  at  the  front. 

This  shelter  seems  insignificant  in  comparison  to  the  huge  caves 
in  the  main  canyon.  It  provides,  however,  a  further  illustration 
of  the  fact  that  no  cave  or  shelter  in  this  region  is  so  small  that  it 
has  not  at  some  time  attracted  tenants  who  have  left  traces  of 
their  occupancy. 

1  1910,  pp.  9-18. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA 


35 


Cave  9.  Across  the  canyon  from  Cave  8  is  a  small  Cliff-dweller 
ruin  in  a  low  cave  that  shows  signs  of  previous  investigation. 
Rooms  along  the  back  wall  have  been  reroofed  by  the  Navajo  and 
used  for  storage  purposes.  This  cave  in  the  writers'  opinion  gives 
evidence  of  two  occupations.  This  belief  is,  however,  based  wholly 
on  the  presence  of  typical  Basket-maker  cists  excavated  in  the 
hard-pan  floor  (plate  14,  c,  d),  for  we  found  here  no  objects  that 
could  be  classed  as  Basket-maker.  The  cists  occurred  in  a  small 
imoccupied  area  in  the  center  and  were  completely  filled  with 
Cliff-dweller  rubbish.    There  is,  nevertheless,  evidence  at  one  place 


CUTS    vJ 


m'/l\'y/iv^/l\''^\< 


Figure  9 
Plan  of  Cave  9,  Sagiotsosi  Canyon. 


that  the  cists  were  here  when  the  Cliff-dweller  structures  were 
erected,  for  the  side  wall  of  one  room  is  built  partly  across  a  cist 
(see  figure  9).  The  latter  could  hardly  have  been  made  by  the 
CHff-dwellers,  since  they  could  have  easily  avoided  weakening  the 
foundation  of  their  wall  by  digging  the  cist  a  httle  to  one  side. 

In  objection  to  the  foregoing  it  may  be  said  that  the  cists  are  of 
Chff-dweller  origin;  they  are,  however,  exactly  like  ones  found  in 
other  caves  containing  Basket-maker  burials,  and  since  all  Basket- 
maker  cists  have  a  certain  unity  of  design  and  a  certain  ''  look," 
hard  to  describe  but  at  once  apparent  to  anyone  who  has  opened 
a  number  of  them,  the  authors  are  satisfied  that  their  identifica- 
tion of  the  present  examples  is  correct.  Compare  c  and  d,  plate  14 
with  a  and  b  of  the  same  plate;  the  latter  are  from  photographs 
of  Basket-maker  cists  in  White  Dog  Cave. 

Cave  10.  Just  below  Cave  8  there  is  a  narrow  break  in  the  canyon 
wall  with  a  length  of  perhaps  400  feet.   About  half  way  up  this 


36  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

gulch  is  a  shelter  20  feet  in  depth  and  40  feet  across  the  front 
(plate  5,  b).  The  only  sign  of  occupation  noticed  on  entering 
was  the  top  of  a  stone  slab  cist  which  just  showed  above  the  sur- 
face sand  and  a  number  of  hand-prints  in  red  on  the  back  wall  at 
one  side.  Excavation  proved,  however,  that  the  place  had  been 
occupied  by  both  the  Basket-makers  and  the  Cliff-dwellers.  The 
Cliff-dweller  remains  consisted  of  a  few  potsherds,  several  bone 
scrapers  of  a  typical  Chff-dweller  form,^  and  a  quantity  of  corn- 
cobs which  we  think  are  Chff-dweller  because  they  are  much  longer 
and  larger  than  the  Basket-maker  corncobs  we  have  found. 

The  Basket-maker  remains  were  empty  storage  cists,  both  slab 
and  excavated,  with  cedar  bark  in  their  bottoms.  There  was  also 
one  Basket-maker  burial  cist  containing  the  partly  mummified 
and  headless  body  of  a  child,  wrapped  in  a  fur-string  robe.  With 
the  body  was  part  of  a  large  dressed  skin  bag  and  at  the  feet  lay 
badly  rotted  square-toed  sandals.  This  burial  was  identical  with 
those  found  in  other  Basket-maker  caves.  Evidence  appeared  that 
this  or  other  cists  had  been  plundered,  as  in  the  general  digging 
there  were  found  a  number  of  fragments  of  Basket-maker  basketry 
and  a  small  piece  of  rabbit  net  made  of  human  hair  and  fiber- 
string  combined. 

To  gain  entrance  to  the  gully  in  which  this  cave  is  located  one 
must  cross  a  smooth,  waterworn  ledge.  Up  this  is  pecked  a  series 
of  tracks  representing  the  hoof-marks  of  a  horse.  They  are  very 
neatly  executed  and  are  the  first  instance  that  has  come  to  our 
notice  of  pecked  pictographs  of  recent  (Navajo  or  Paiute)  origin. 

Cave  11.  This  cave  is  in  the  east  wall  of  the  main  canyon  near 
its  head.  It  is  some  200  feet  above  the  wash  and  consists  of  a  nar- 
row shelter  with  a  frontage  of  about  150  feet.  On  the  back  wall 
are  a  mmiber  of  hand-prints  and  some  nearly  obhterated  human 
figures  all  in  white.  On  the  surface  were  scattered  a  few  bleached 
human  bones.  Large  flat  rocks  along  the  front  show  deep  axe- 
grinding  grooves. 

We  were  only  able  to  spend  a  half  day  here.  Our  hmited  digging 
showed  that  for  a  considerable  period  the  cave  had  been  used  by 
Chff-dwellers  and  we  recovered  a  niunber  of  their  characteristic 

1  See  Morris,  1919,  figure  23,  e.  We  found  none  of  this  variety  in  our  cliff-house  excava- 
tions in  1914. 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  13 


m 


tf  %>^    '^ 


J" 


t 


ft  tiff 


^=^ 


r^ 


^ 


n 


Sayodneechee  Canyon:  a,  Pictographs  in  white  paint,  Cave  3.    Sagiotsosi  Canyon:  b,  Picto- 

graph  in  red  paint,  Cave  12;  c,  Pictographs  in  white  paint,  Cave  14; 

d,  e,  In  white  paint,  Cave  8;  f,  In  charcoal,  Cave  6. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  37 

artifacts  from  the  rubbish.  At  one  point  we  found  a  loom-anchor 
in  place.  This  consisted  of  a  smooth  pole  one  and  one-half  inches 
in  diameter  and  six  feet  long,  having  loops  of  braided  yucca  and 
heavy  fiber  cord  strung  on  it  at  regular  intervals.  It  was  buried 
several  inches  below  the  floor  and  held  down  by  flat  rocks,  the  tops 
of  the  loops  just  protruding  above  the  surface.  Under  some  large 
rocks  at  the  front  of  the  cave,  we  uncovered  a  small  Basket-maker 
pannier  basket  in  a  poor  state  of  preservation,  inverted  over  a 
quantity  of  corncobs;  probably  the  corn  had  been  stripped  by 
rodents.  Attached  to  it  was  part  of  a  carrying-strap  of  human  hair 
string. 

In  a  narrow  part  of  the  shelter  and  under  what  must  have  been 
the  path  ordinarily  used  in  entering  it,  we  found  a  disturbed 
Basket-maker  burial.  Some  of  the  bones  including  the  skull  were 
missing.  There  were  with  the  remains  fragments  of  a  coiled  basket, 
square-toed  sandals  and  a  piece  of  finely  woven  cloth. 

Cave  12.  This  is  a  deep  cavern  a  short  distance  down  the  canyon 
from  Cave  11  and  on  the  same  side.  It  is  about  90  feet  above 
the  wash  and  has  a  fairly  level  floor  area  40  feet  deep  by  70  feet 
across  the  front.  The  walls  and  ceiling  are  much  blackened  by 
smoke,  and  the  floor  is  thick  with  charcoal.  At  one  point  the  top 
of  a  rude  enclosure  of  stone  slabs  shows  just  above  the  surface. 
This  is  circular  in  shape  and  has  a  diameter  of  12  feet.  At  one 
place  in  the  back  wall  are  a  group  of  hand-prints  in  red  placed  as 
near  together  as  possible  and  covering  a  space  of  6  feet  or  more; 
the  only  other  pictograph  noticed  is  the  small  figure  shown  in 
plate  13,  b,  also  done  in  red.  On  a  flat  rock  at  the  front  are  a 
number  of  axe-grinding  grooves. 

Our  digging  here  was  confined  to  test  holes,  as  it  was  obvious 
that  it  would  be  too  much  of  an  undertaking  for  our  small  party 
to  clear  the  cave  completely.  We  found  rubbish  along  the  back 
wall  to  a  depth  of  a  Httle  more  than  one  foot.  It  was  very  com- 
pact and  contained  a  large  amount  of  broken  sticks  and  twigs, 
straw  and  charcoal.  There  were  two  or  three  slab  cists  partly 
filled  with  cedar  bark  but  holding  no  specimens. 

We  do  not  think  any  great  returns  would  reward  further  work  at 
this  site.  It  had  apparently  been  used  by  Basket-makers  and 
CHff-dwellers  in  turn,  but  did  not  appeal  to  the  latter  strongly 


38  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

enough  to  warrant  the  erection  of  any  structures.  It  is  set  very 
deep  in  the  chff  and  gets  but  Httle  sun;  it  may  have  been  con- 
sidered undesirable  on  this  account. 

Cave  13.  This  is  a  very  long  shallow  shelter  high  up  in  the  cliff 
near  the  head  of  the  branch  canyon  in  which  Caves  8,  9  and  10 
are  located.  At  some  not  very  remote  time  a  great  quantity  of  the 
roof  had  scaled  off,  burying  almost  the  entire  floor  beneath  tons 
and  tons  of  rock.  At  one  end  of  the  cave  is  a  series  of  small  cUff- 
house  rooms,  some  of  which  still  retain  roofs;  others  are  crushed 
and  the  walls  partly  buried  beneath  the  fallen  rocks.  Along  the 
whole  front  of  the  cave  can  be  traced  a  low  roughly  built  wall.  It 
seems  probable  that  beneath  the  rocks  are  structures  similar  to 
those  in  the  end  of  the  cave,  but  to  reach  them  would  be  a  very 
large  undertaking.    We  noticed  no  pictographs  here. 

Cave  14.  This  cave,  the  last  to  be  explored,  is  but  a  short  dis- 
tance from  Cave  13.  It  consists  of  a  shallow  shelter  200  feet  above 
the  canyon  bottom,  and  has  a  usable  floor  space  20  feet  deep  by 
70  feet  in  length.  The  line  of  shelter  extends  some  20  feet  beyond 
the  point  where  the  floor  breaks  away  at  the  front.  At  one  end  is 
a  small  niche  in  the  back  wall  7  or  8  feet  above  the  floor.  Leading 
up  to  it  are  a  number  of  pecked  toe-holes.  The  ceiling  and  some 
parts  of  the  walls  of  the  cave  are  blackened  by  smoke.  On  a  smooth 
area  of  the  wall  near  the  center  is  a  group  of  square-shouldered 
human  figures  painted  in  white,  while  other  similar  figures  show 
faintly  at  other  points  (plate  13,  c).  These  are  distinctly  Basket- 
maker.  Built  against  the  back  wall  of  the  cave  is  a  series  of  seven 
stone  slab  structures,  six  of  which  are  in  a  fair  state  of  preservation. 
These  will  be  given  a  more  detailed  description  further  on. 

In  our  excavations  here  we  found  below  the  surface  several  slab 
cists  of  the  usual  Basket-maker  type.  From  one  we  obtained  a 
small  skin  pouch,  which  with  its  contents  is  shown  in  plate  38,  a-c ; 
also,  in  the  loose  fill,  a  wooden  implement  plate  36,  a;  and  the 
bundle  of  human  hair  wrapped  with  string  illustrated  in  plate  32,  e. 
At  the  extreme  right  of  the  cave  a  single  square-toed  sandal  was 
found  in  the  general  digging,  and  several  ears  of  corn  cached  in  the 
loose  dirt  against  a  large  flat  rock.  So  near  is  this  cave  to  Cave  13 
that  it  is  inconceivable  that  it  had  not  been  frequented  by  Cliff- 
dwellers  to  some  extent,  yet  careful  search  of  the  surface,  and 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  14 


a,  b,  Cists  dug  in  hard-pan,  White  Dog  Cave;  c,  d,  Cists,  Cave  9. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  39 

watchfulness  throughout  the  digging  failed  to  produce  a  trace  of 
their  handiwork  with  the  possible  exception  of  the  corn  which 
may  be  CUff-dweller,  as  it  is  unhke  the  characteristic  Basket- 
maker  corn.  It  was  found  in  a  part  of  the  cave  quite  remote  from 
the  cists.  There  were  no  potsherds,  twilled  sandals,  feather  cloth 
or  even  axe-grinding  grooves.  The  latter  are  seldom  absent  from 
caves  in  which  the  Cliff-dwellers  have  lived. 

The  most  interesting  things  in  the  cave  are  the  slab  structures 
along  the  back  wall  (plate  12,  b).  They  average  about  5  feet  in 
diameter,  the  best  preserved  standing  three  and  one-half  feet 
above  the  surface.  Large  stone  slabs  are  used  in  their  construction, 
in  most  cases  overlapping.  The  space  between  the  joints  is  filled 
with  adobe  mortar  which  in  some  instances  has  been  plastered  all 
over  the  slabs  both  outside  and  in.  Small  stones  are  set  in  to  fill 
holes  between  the  slabs  and  the  cave  wall  to  reinforce  the  slabs 
at  their  bases.  In  the  structures  and  on  the  surface  about  them 
were  a  number  of  timbers  from  4  feet  6  inches  to  6  feet  in  length 
and  4  to  6  inches  in  diameter,  probably  roof  timbers.  Other 
shorter  sticks  were  found  which  had  once  formed  a  part  of  a  rim 
molded  on  to  the  top  of  the  slabs.  These  pieces  had  traces  of  adobe 
on  one  side;  there  were  also  found  large  lumps  of  adobe  tempered 
with  cedar  bark  with  one  side  moulded  round,  the  other  bearing 
imprints  obviously  made  by  the  short  timbers  just  mentioned. 
These  sections  of  stick  and  adobe  are  important  because  they  show 
that  the  present  above-ground  cists  are  identical  in  rim  construc- 
tion with  a  subterranean  Basket-maker  storage  place  (Cist  14) 
found  in  Cave  2,  Kinboko  during  the  1915  season.^  Another  larger 
cist  (12)  in  the  same  cave  had  a  similar  rounded  adobe  coping 
strengthened  with  stones  instead  of  sticks.  The  drawing,  plate  9,  e, 
represents  one  of  the  Cave  14  cists  with  a  short  section  of  the  rim 
restored.  The  slabs  are  shown  partly  denuded  of  the  adobe 
plaster,  while  on  the  wall  behind  the  cist  a  line  of  adobe  is  indicated 
which  probably  marks  the  outhne  of  the  roof.  This  structure 
more  fully  restored  appears  in  f,  of  the  same  plate. 

Why  so  much  care  should  have  been  taken  to  finish  the  rim,  if 
the  roof  timbers  were  to  rest  directly  on  it,  we  are  unable  to  say, 
though  it  is  evident  that  a  rim  made  in  this  way  would  greatly 

1  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  p.  88. 


40  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

strengthen  the  whole  structure.  These  slab  cists  seem  hardly- 
large  enough  for  living  rooms  or  even  for  sleeping  places.  It  seems 
more  probable  that  they  were  storage  cists.  We  do  not  hesitate  to 
identify  them  as  Basket-maker,  because  they  are  exactly  like  the 
Basket-maker  structures  in  Cave  2,  Kinboko. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  41 

MATERIAL  CULTURE  i 

FOOD 

Vegetal  Food.  Maize.  In  1914  and  1915  we  found  indications 
that  the  Basket-makers  cultivated  but  a  single  and  rather  primitive 
type  of  corn,  while  that  grown  by  the  Cliff-dwellers  seemed  to  have 
been  more  highly  developed  and  more  varied  in  character.  Our 
evidence  was  not,  however,  absolutely  conclusive,  for  certain  speci- 
mens of  the  advanced  corn  were  taken  from  Basket-maker  caves, 
though  from  so  near  the  surface  that  we  regarded  them  as  probably 
intrusive.  The  expeditions  of  1916  and  1917  supply  us,  fortimately, 
with  enough  new  finds  to  settle  the  question  beyond  any  reasonable 
doubt.  A  niunber  of  Basket-maker  caves  were  thoroughly  investi- 
gated and  many  samples  of  com  were  recovered  from  undisturbed 
and  surely  identifiable  burials  and  storage  cists;  among  all  this 
material  there  is  not  a  single  kernel  of  any  of  the  parti-colored  flour 
or  large  white  flint  corns  that  are  so  common  in  the  chff-houses.^ 

On  specimens  submitted  to  him  for  examination  Mr.  G.  W. 
Colhns  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Plant  Industry  has  kindly 
given  us  the  following  report : 

The  collection  of  maize  samples  from  the  Basket-maker  caves  is  of  unusual 
interest. 

The  specimens  all  appear  to  belong  to  one  general  type,  a  type  we  have 
called  Tropical  FHnt.  This  type  resembles  the  New  England  flint  varieties  in 
having  a  large  part  of  the  endosperm  hard  or  corneous.  It  differs  from  New 
England  flint  in  having  a  larger  number  of  rows  and  smaller  seeds.  Tropical 
flint  varieties  are  common  in  Central  and  South  America  but  are  rare  among 
the  types  grown  by  the  Indians  of  the  United  States.  So  far  as  our  collections 
show  the  Papago  is  the  only  tribe  with  varieties  uniformly  of  this  type. 

The  cobs  of  the  specimens  from  the  Basket-maker  caves  are  all  Ught  brown 
in  color.  The  pericarp  is  either  red  or  colorless.  The  endosperm  is  either  light 
yellow  or  white.  The  aleurone  or  layer  of  cells  just  beneath  the  pericarp  in  all 
the  specimens  is  a  yellowish  red.  This  is  a  color  entirely  unknown  in  the 
aleurone  of  existing  varieties.  If  this  color  is  not  the  result  of  some  slow  dis- 
integration, it  constitutes  the  first  clearly  marked  distinction  between  pre- 
historic maize  and  present  day  varieties. 

Most  of  the  specimens  are  remarkably  well-preserved.  The  embryos  have 
of  course  disintegrated  but  the  colors  are  much  brighter  than  is  usual  with  old 
specimens. 

1  Only  objects  believed  by  us  to  be  of  Basket-maker  origin  are  included.    Specimens  re- 
covered from  the  cliff-houses  will  be  treated  in  a  later  paper. 
»  See  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  p.  154. 


42  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

The  specimens  cannot  be  referred  to  any  existing  variety  with  which  I  am 
famiUar  but  with  the  possible  exception  of  the  unusual  aleurone  color  they 
present  no  new  characters. 

Here  then  is  an  undifferentiated,  and  judging  from  its  distribu- 
tion, a  primitive  form  of  corn  grown  by  a  people  whom  the  purely 
stratigraphic  evidence  shows  to  have  antedated  the  highly  de- 
veloped agriculturists  of  the  region.  This  agrees  very  well  with 
the  other  manifestations  of  Basket-maker  culture,  and  particularly 
with  its  lack  of  true  pottery,  stone  architecture,  and  cotton  weav- 
ing, all  of  which  traits  are  characteristic  of  the  perfected  puebloan 
civilizations.  We  have  thus  good  evidence  that  the  Basket-makers 
were  the  pioneer  corn  growers  of  the  district. 

To  what  degree  these  people  depended  upon  maize  is  uncertain, 
but  quantities  of  it  were  found  in  the  burial  cists  and  cached  for 
future  use  as  food  or  for  seed.  There  were  also  recovered  agricul- 
tural implements  such  as  would  be  needed  for  its  cultivation,  and 
the  large  number  of  storage  cists  in  the  caves  would  indicate  by 
their  capacity  that  a  considerable  harvest  was  obtained.  The  sites 
explored  by  us  were  all  within  easy  reach  of  tillable  land  and  this  is 
also  true  of  the  Grand  Gulch  Basket-maker  caves. 

Of  the  actual  finds  of  corn  the  best  example  is  the  skin  bag  full  of 
shelled  kernels  from  Cist  13,  White  Dog  Cave  (plate  15) ;  there  are 
about  four  quarts,  every  grain  in  perfect  preservation.  This  may 
represent  a  food  offering  deposited  with  the  dead,  or  perhaps  it  is 
carefully  selected  seed  cached  unknowingly  in  the  same  cist  with 
the  burials  (it  was  found  some  8  inches  above  the  remains  shown  in 
plate  10,  e) .  Other  interments,  however,  were  accompanied  by  corn 
and  the  remains  of  rotted  hide  containers,  so  that  it  may  indeed  be 
a  food  offering.  A  selection  of  the  more  perfect  ears  of  Basket- 
maker  corn  is  shown  in  plate  15. 

SqiLash.  This  seems  to  have  been  the  only  other  cultivated  crop 
of  the  Basket-makers.^  We  unearthed  with  the  burials  varying 
quantities  of  squash  seed,  Cucurhita  pepo,  and  many  pieces  of  rind, 
as  well  as  the  complete  vessel  made  from  a  squash  shell  that  is  shown 
on  plate  31,  b. 

Seeds.  In  a  number  of  the  burial  cists  in  White  Dog  Cave,  large 
quantities  of  coarse  grass  seed  were  found.  We  saw  growing  in  the 

1  Though  we  were  constantly  on  the  watch  for  beans  in  the  Basket-maker  sites,  none  were 
found.    This  strengthens  our  beUef  that  they  were  not  grown  by  the  Basket-makers. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  43 

vicinity,  the  same  variety  of  grass  from  which  it  was  obtained. 
Mr.  W.  E.  Safford  of  the  Bureau  of  Plant  Industry  identifies  this 
as  follows: 

Oryzopsis  hymenioides,  commonly  called  Indian  Mountain  Rice,  is  used  by 
several  Indian  tribes  for  food;  by  some  only  in  times  of  scarcity,  by  others  as 
a  regular  food  staple.  Mr.  F.  V.  Coville  states  that  the  squaws  of  the  Panamint 
Indians  of  southern  California  gather  it  by  means  of  a  wicker  paddle  resem- 
bling a  small  tennis  racket  with  which  they  beat  the  seeds  from  the  standing 
grass  into  wicker  baskets,  after  which  they  are  winnowed  and  sifted,  and 
parched  and  ground  into  pinolli.  The  late  Dr.  Edward  Palmer  found  this 
seed  in  use  among  the  Paiute  and  Pueblo  Indians,  who  store  it  for  winter  use. 

Cummings  ^  found  caches  of  seed  in  Sagiotsosi  (''coarse  bunch 
grass"),  which  may  be  the  same.  No  doubt  other  seeds  were 
gathered  and  stored  for  food,  as  we  found  in  1915  several  quarts 
of  Coreocarpus  seeds  in  a  burial  cist  in  Cave  1.  Powell  in  his  ex- 
plorations of  the  Colorado  found  a  tribe  which  subsisted  chiefly 
on  wild  fruits,  nuts  and  native  grains.  In  our  own  explorations  we 
came  upon  an  old  Navajo  squaw  in  the  vicinity  of  Sagiotsosi  who 
was  gathering  the  small  seeds  of  a  low  weed.  She  told  us  that 
these  were  cooked  and  made  into  a  kind  of  mush  by  mixing  with 
goat's  milk,  also  that  they  were  now  (1917)  being  used  again  for 
the  first  time  since  the  ''great  war"  (Navajo  war,  1863).  These 
are  identified  by  Mr.  Safford  as  Chinopodium  sp.,  who  writes  as 
follows  regarding  them : 

They  are  perhaps  the  most  interesting  of  the  collection.  It  has  been  im- 
possible to  determine  their  specific  identity.  They  are  much  larger  than  the 
seeds  of  Chenopodium  fremontii,  gathered  for  food  by  the  Klamath  Indians, 
and  those  of  Chenopodium  leptophyllum  eaten  by  the  Zuni.  In  shape  they 
bear  a  close  resemblance  to  the  seeds  of  Chenopodium  quenua,  the  well-known 
food  staple  of  the  Peruvian  and  BoHvian  Plateau,  but  they  are  of  smaller  size 
and  of  a  much  darker  color  than  the  latter.  These  seeds  have  been  carefully 
compared  with  those  of  the  species  growing  commonly  in  the  southwestern 
United  States;  they  bear  a  closer  resemblance  to  Chenopodium  peHolare  than 
to  any  other  species  in  the  herbarium,  but  they  do  not  seem  to  be  identical 
with  the  seeds  of  that  species.  They  are  evidently  rich  in  starch  and  would 
undoubtedly  form  a  nutritious  article  of  food. 

Pifion  Nuts.  These  were  also  an  important  item  of  diet  and 
were  found  with  other  food  offerings  in  many  of  the  graves. 

1  Cummings,  1910,  p.  14. 


44  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

Unidentified  Food.  Small  quantities  of  plant  stalks,  shriveled 
beyond  recognition,  accompanied  some  burials.  These  are  prob- 
ably from  certain  edible  plants  that  grow  in  the  region,  and  which 
are  eaten  today  by  the  Navajo. 

Animal  Food.  The  bones  of  mammals  and  birds,  generally  so 
common  about  the  dwelling  places  of  primitive  people,  were  en- 
tirely lacking  in  the  group  of  Basket-maker  caves  examined.  We 
do  not  believe  that  this  indicates  a  preponderatingly  vegetarian 
diet,  but  rather  that  it  proves  the  caves  to  have  been  used  merely 
as  temporary  shelters  and  as  burial  places  for  the  dead.  That  these 
people  killed  a  great  deal  of  large  game  is  evidenced  by  the  abun- 
dance of  articles  made  from  the  hides  of  deer  and  mountain-sheep; 
while  quantities  of  the  pelts  of  badgers,  rabbits,  prairie-dogs,  and 
other  small  animals  were  employed  for  bags,  pouches,  and  in  fur- 
string  robes.  It  is  probable  that  the  flesh  of  all  the  above  was 
eaten. 

As  to  the  birds  we  have  less  evidence.  Such  feathers  as  were 
found  came  principally  from  hawks  and  owls,  species  not  com- 
monly relished  as  food  by  any  people;  or  from  very  small  birds  of 
bright  plumage  such  as  warblers,  bluebirds,  and  woodpeckers.  As 
we  have  never  come  across  a  single  identifiable  turkey  feather,  it  is 
reasonably  certain  that  the  turkey  was  not  domesticated,  nor  indeed 
does  it  appear  to  have  been  commonly  hunted. 

Although  there  is  no  evidence  that  the  Basket-makers  used  the 
dog  for  food,  it  may  be  well  to  refer  here  to  the  finding  of  two  re- 
markably well-preserved  dog  mummies  in  White  Dog  Cave.  They 
represent  different  types,  formerly  of  wide  distribution  in  the 
warmer  parts  of  America  (plate  15).  Dr.  Glover  M.  Allen  of  the 
Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology,  who  has  made  an  exhaustive 
study  of  the  native  Indian  dog,  has  kindly  contributed  the  follow- 
ing regarding  these  specimens: 

The  larger  is  a  long-haired  animal  the  size  of  a  small  collie,  with  erect  ears 
and  long  bushy  tail.  The  hair  is  still  in  good  condition  and  though  now  a  light 
golden  color,  with  cloudings  of  dark  brown,  it  may  in  life  have  been  darker. 
It  is,  apparently,  a  breed  very  similar  to  the  long-haired  Inca  dog  found  at 
Ancon,  Peru,  in  a  mummified  condition  and  described  by  Nebring  {Sitzb.  Ges. 
Naturf.  Freunde,  BerUn,  1887,  pages  139-141).  The  latter  specimen  is  also 
described  as  yellowish  in  color,  though  this  may  have  been  in  part  due  to 
fading.  A  more  detailed  comparison  of  the  two  specimens  is  not  possible 
without  removing  and  cleaning  the  bones  and  so  injuring  the  present  exapaple 
for  exhibition  purposes. 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  15 


White  Dog  Cave 
Mummies  of  two  varieties  of  dogs,  ears  of  corn,  and  skin  bag  containing  shelled  corn. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  45 

The  other  dog  is  a  much  smaller,  black-and-white  individual,  about  the  size 
of  a  terrier,  with  short,  but  not  close,  shaggy  coat,  erect  ears,  and  long  full- 
haired  tail.  Its  muzzle  is  rather  short  and  stubby  in  contrast  to  the  fine  slender 
muzzle  of  other  Indian  dogs  of  about  the  same  size.  In  common  with  many 
skulls  of  American  Indian  dogs,  the  first  premolar  is  lacking  in  the  adult  den- 
tition of  the  lower  jaw.  This  specimen  is  of  especial  interest  as  establishing 
beyond  doubt  the  identity  of  certain  dog  bones  from  Ely  Cave,  Virginia, 
described  as  Pachycyon  rohustus,  for  they  agree  perfectly  with  corresponding 
parts  of  the  Arizona  dog.  An  identical  breed  is  represented  among  the  mimimi- 
fied  remains  of  dogs  from  the  necropoUs  of  Ancon,  Peru,  and  has  been  figured 
by  Nebring  as  Cards  ingae  vertagus  in  the  foUo  report  of  Reiss  and  Steubel, 
plate  118,  figure  1.  Evidently  it  had  a  wide  distribution  in  our  south  and 
southwest,  and  was  known  also  to  the  Peruvians.  I  have  called  this  the  short 
nosed  Indian  Dog. 

These  and  other  dog  remains,  are  true  dogs,  in  no  way  derived  from  Coyotes 
or  other  native  dog-Uke  animals  of  America.  Their  forebears  probably  reached 
America  with  their  human  masters,  but  their  Old  World  ancestors  still  remain 
to  be  determined.^ 


DRESS  AND  PERSONAL  ORNAMENTS 

Body  Clothing.  We  have  few  data  on  this  subject;  it  is  probable, 
indeed,  that  the  Basket-makers  wore  very  httle  clothing  except 
robes  of  fur-string  or  hide,^  and  *'gee  strings"  or  cord  aprons.  It  so 
happens  that  all  the  robes  found  in  sufficiently  good  preservation 
to  permit  of  measurement  had  been  interred  with  babies;  the 
largest  of  these  (plate  16,  a)  is  only  25  by  23  inches.  About  an 
adult  mimimy  (A-2939)  from  Cist  22,  White  Dog  Cave,  however, 
there  is  wrapped  what  appears  to  be  a  very  large  blanket  of  fur- 
string;  and  we  have  fragments  from  deer  and  mountain-sheep 
hides  which  seem  to  have  been  originally  of  ample  size  for  use  as 
mantles  by  grown  people. 

Nothing  resembling  fitted  garments  of  leather  or  cloth  has  so 
far  come  to  light;  it  is  possible,  however,  that  certain  woven  fabrics, 
bits  of  which  were  recovered  from  the  caves  ^  may  have  been  used 
as  ponchos.  This  guess  is  based  on  the  resemblance  between  a 
zigzag  decoration  on  one  of  the  cloth  specimens  (plate  26,  c)  and 
similar  patterns  painted  on  the  chests  of  Basket-maker  human 
pictographs  from  the  Monument  country.*    It  must  be  admitted, 

1  For  a  discussion  of  the  types  of  prehistoric  American  dogs,  see  Allen,  1920. 

2  For  details  of  the  weave  of  these  robes,  see  p.  65. 
»  See  plate  26,  b,  c. 

*  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  figures  100,  101. 


46  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

however,  that  the  zigzag  was  a  favorite  Basket-maker  design,  and 
that  the  marks  on  the  pictographs  may  perfectly  well  represent 
body-painting. 

A  string  apron  recovered  by  the  1915  expedition  still  remains 
our  best  specimen  of  this  type.  Although  it  was  illustrated  in  our 
former  report  (plate  66,  a),  we  have  since  succeeded  in  unraveling 
it  for  a  somewhat  clearer  photograph;  this,  with  a  picture  of  a 
second  example  from  the  general  digging  in  White  Dog  Cave,  are 
here  reproduced  (plate  16,  c,  d).  It  will  be  seen  that  in  both  cases 
there  is  a  waist  cord  to  which  is  attached  a  fringe  of  pendent 
strings.  In  the  1915  specimen  the  strings  are  of  apocynum  and 
are  looped  over  the  human  hair  waist  cord  and  gathered  in  bunches 
of  about  three  hundred;  the  fringe  is  12  inches  long.^  The  apron 
from  White  Dog  Cave  (plate  16,  c)  is  more  fragmentary;  the 
yucca-fiber  waist  cord  is  double;  over  it  are  hung  yucca  strings 
which  are  gathered  together  in  pairs  and  held,  close  under  the 
waist  cord,  by  a  row  of  twined  weaving,  one  strand  yucca,  the 
other  human  hair.  Although  somewhat  longer  than  the  first  apron 
this  garment  is  much  thinner  and  contains  fewer  strings. 

Plate  16,  b,  shows  part  of  a  similar  skirt  made  of  cedar  bark. 
The  pendent  strands  are  about  12  inches  long  and  are  held  to- 
gether by  a  twining  of  twisted  cedar-bark  string,  the  prolongations 
of  which  once  formed  the  waist  cord. 

As  the  term  apron  implies,  the  fringes  of  these  articles  did  not 
extend  all  the  way  around  the  body,  but  merely  covered  the  front 
of  the  waist;  it  is  probable  that  they  hung  loose,  for  the  strings  are 
too  short  to  have  been  pulled  between  the  legs  and  fastened  over 
the  waist  cord  behind.  They  are  evidently  a  woman's  garment,  as 
in  every  case  where  they  were  discovered  in  place  on  a  mummy,  the 
body  proved  to  be  that  of  a  female.  Though  we  have  never  found 
any  covering  at  the  loins  of  a  male,  there  are  in  the  collection  two 
objects  that  may  well  have  been  the  ties  of  ''gee  strings."  One  is 
a  loose  twist  of  thirty  animal  wool  threads  (plate  16,  f) ;  it  is  nearly 
7  feet  long  and  its  ends  are  tapered  as  if  for  knotting.  The  other 
is  5  feet  2  inches  long  and  made  of  fifty  to  sixty  thin  strings  of 
human  hair;  the  ends  are  seized  with  fiber  thread  to  prevent 
ravehng. 

I  For  a  fuller  description,  see  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  p.  157. 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  16 


^<*^ 


^^¥' 


'^Mmm-m''4i:s 


Clothing:  a,  Fur  cloth  blanket;  b,  Apron  of  shredded  bark;  c,  d,  Aprons  of  fiber  string; 

e,  f,  String  belts.    All  from  White  Dog  Cave  except  d,  f,  which  are  from  Kinboko  Canyon, 

Marsh  Pass.     (About  \.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  47 

Sandals.  As  most  of  the  specimens  recovered  by  the  1916  and 
1917  expeditions  are  very  badly  rotted  and  as  no  new  types  appear, 
the  reader  is  referred  to  the  classification  and  descriptions  of  the 
1914,  1915  material  given  in  the  previous  report.^ 

Necklaces.  These  were  of  two  sorts:  strings  of  beads;  and  twisted 
skin  or  fiber  cords,  to  the  middle  of  which  were  attached  a  few  pend- 
ants or  extra  handsome  beads.  Of  the  latter  class  there  was  re- 
covered only  one  fragmentary  example  (plate  17,  b) ;  it  bears  two 
very  beautifully  polished  lignite  discs  strung  on  a  fiber  cord,  which 
is  itself  attached  to  a  sinew-bound  thong ;  the  whole  was  probably 
fastened  to  a  longer  neck  cord  as  was  done  with  a  similar  specimen 
found  in  1915.2 

The  second  type  is  more  fully  represented,  several  strings  of 
beads  having  been  taken  from  the  necks  of  skeletons  in  White  Dog 
Cave.  A  selection  is  given  in  plate  25,  e-h.  The  most  interesting 
of  these  is  composed  of  seventy-one  thick  discoidal  black  lignite 
and  white  limestone  beads  strung  alternately  on  a  narrow  thong. 
They  are  graduated  in  size  from  a  maximum  diameter  of  f  of 
an  inch  at  the  center  of  the  string,  to  f  of  an  inch  at  the  ends. 
An  unusual  refinement  of  technic  was  practised  by  cutting  several 
of  the  beads  to  a  wedge-shape  (see  figure  10,  c,  and  plate  25,  h) 
and  introducing  them  here  and  there  throughout  the  set  in  order 
that  it  might  hang  evenly.  Loose  behind  the  neck  of  the  mummy 
who  wore  this  string  were  fourteen  ohvella  shells  that  apparently 
had  once  been  fastened  together  to  form  a  sort  of  '^  dangler  "  at- 
tached to  the  tie-strings  of  the  necklace. 

Another  string  (plate  25,  f),  which  was  recovered  in  order,  is  made 
of  one  hundred  little  saucer-shaped  shell  beads  (figure  10,  g); 
seventy-five  thin,  roughly  discoidal  shell  beads  (figure  10,  f ) ;  and 
eighteen  olivella  shells,  one  of  which  bears  an  incised  zigzag  decor- 
ation (figure  10,  i).  These  different  kinds  of  beads  were  grouped 
together.  Plate  25,  e,  shows  a  third  necklace  composed  of  ninety- 
five  beads  arranged  as  follows :  one  of  Ugnite,  seven  oUvella  shells, 
one  of  seed,  one  of  bone,  one  of  red  shale,  one  of  green  shale,  one 
of  red  shale,  eighty-one  of  white  limestone.  Plain  strings  of 
olivellas  designed  to  go  once  or  twice  around  the  neck  are  not 
uncommon. 

>  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  pp.  157-160. 

2  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  p.  161  and  figure  72,  a.  A  full  description  of  this  type  of  necklace 
is  there  given. 


48 


BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 


Beads.  Under  this  head  are  considered  all  the  beads  found, 
whether  strung  into  necklaces,  discovered  loose  in  the  cists,  or  in- 
cluded in  ''  medicine  outfits."  The  commonest  of  all  are  little 
cylinders  averaging  A  of  an  inch  long  (figure  10,  e,  and  plate  25,  g) ; 
some  are  of  albatite,  a  phase  of  asphaltic  shale,  but  the  great  major- 
ity (hardly  distinguishable  from  the  above  except  under  a  magni- 
fying glass)  are  made  from  some  hard  black  seed  so  cut  down  in 
manufacture  as  to  be  unidentifiable.     Other  seeds  were  used  un- 


9  h 

Figure  10 
Beads  from  White  Dog  Cave.     (Full  size.) 


worked  except  for  a  narrow  bore.^    Two  varieties  of  these  seed 
beads  are  identified  by  Mr.  Safford : 

The  first  is  the  polished  white  nutlet  of  Onosmodium  occidentale,  a  plant  of 
the  Borage  family,  belonging  to  a  genus  not  far  removed  from  Ldthospermum. 
These  beautiful  little  nutlets  may  well  be  called  pearl-seeds,  since  when  strung 
they  must  bear  a  close  resemblance  to  small  seed-pearls.  Accompanying  these 
is  a  small  longitudinally  grooved  dull  brown  seed,  somewhat  resembling  the 
seeds  of  the  bead  tree  {Melia  azederach)  in  form.  The  terminal  scar  is  removed 
by  the  perforation,  and  it  has  been  impossible  to  identify  this,  or  even  to  de- 
termine to  what  botanical  family  it  belongs. 

Stone  beads  are  of  fine-grained  white  limestone,  lignite,  ser- 
pentine, quartz,  hematite  and  alabaster.  Most  of  them  are  large, 
no  minute  beads,  such  as  those  from  Aztec  ^  or  the  Upper  Gila,^ 
occurring.  In  shape  they  run  from  the  flattened  spherical  type 
(figure  10,  a)  ^  to  the  more  or  less  thickened  discoidal  form  (figure 
10,  c). 

1  See  also  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  plate  70,  k,  a  string  of  acorn  cups. 

2  Morris,  1919,  p.  99.  a  Hough,  1914,  p.  24. 

*  Wrongly  called  "hemispherical"  in  our  former  report  (p.  163). 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  49 

Most  of  the  shell  beads  were  made  from  olivellas  simply  by  cut- 
ting off  the  end  of  the  spire.  There  are  in  one  of  the  strings  (plate 
25,  f )  seventy-five  very  thin  disc-shaped  beads,  rs  of  an  inch  in  di- 
ameter cut,  apparently,  from  the  shell  of  a  fresh-water  clam  (figure 
10,  f).  The  same  necklace  contains  one  hundred  shell  beads  made 
from  the  curving  wall  of  the  large  olivella  (figure  10,  g).  The 
saucer-like  form  of  these  allows  them  to  fit  closely  over  each  other 
when  strung.  Enormous  quantities  of  identical  beads  are  in  the 
Museum's  collection  from  the  Channel  Islands,  Cahfornia.  There 
are  a  few  small  bone  beads  (figure  10,  h)  apparently  made  in  imi- 
tation of  these. 

Pendants.  These  were  less  common  in  the  burial  cists  of  White 
Dog  Cave  than  they  were  in  the  mortuary  cave  of  Sayodneechee.^ 
The  single  stone  specimen  (plate  17,  h)  is  of  a  hard  brown  stone 
mottled  with  brownish  green;  the  surface  is  highly  polished  and 
has  a  waxy  texture. 

Four  shell  pendants  were  found,  all  of  abalone;  three  are  illus- 
trated in  plate  17,  c,  d,  e;  the  fourth  is  attached  to  a  ceremonial 
object  (plate  39,  b).  The  largest  (plate  17,  c)  is  round  and  2 
inches  in  diameter.  It  has  two  perforations  in  the  center  from 
which  radiate  the  four  arms  of  an  incised  cross  figure.  Along 
the  edge  are  two  other  round  holes  and  three  pairs  of  minute 
perforations.  At  the  bottom  of  this  disc  there  is  a  drilled  hole 
which  has  been  stopped  up  by  inlaying  a  little  piece  of  abalone 
shell  carefully  shaped  to  fit  the  aperture.  The  second  abalone 
pendant  (plate  17,  d)  is  the  reused  half  of  a  disc  similar  to  the 
above;  it  fractured,  apparently,  along  an  incised  median  line. 
Traces  of  the  favorite  Basket-maker  zigzag  may  be  seen  along  the 
upper  edge  of  the  old  break.  The  third  specimen  (plate  17,  e)  is  a 
bit  of  the  thickened  rim  of  an  abalone,  the  edges  ground  down  and 
polished. 

Feathered  Pendant.  This  object  (plate  18,  f)  is  described  under 
the  head  of  personal  ornaments  although  it  may  have  served  some 
other,  possibly  ceremonial,  function.  It  consists  of  nine  two-ply 
twists  of  rawhide  thong,  seized  with  sinew  to  a  loop  of  the  same 
material.  Small  feathers,  whose  butts  alone  remain,  were  once 
fastened  to  the  ends  of  the  streamers.^ 

>  See  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  p.  164. 

»  Compare  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  figure  77. 


50  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

Ornament  of  Mountain-sheep  Horn.  This  object  (plate  17,  i) 
is  3  inches  long  by  2^  wide.  The  convex  side  shown  in  the  drawing 
bears,  besides  two  pairs  of  drilled  perforations,  a  double  series  of 
small  holes  which  do  not  run  through.  Incised  lines  drawn  be- 
tween the  two  series,  seem  to  show  a  start  at  a  zigzag  decoration. 
The  toothed  ends  of  the  specimen  were  produced  by  sawing  broad 
notches  along  the  upper  and  lower  edges.  The  bottoms  of  the 
notches  are  well  worn  and  smooth,  but  whether  from  general  use 
or  from  friction  of  threads  (supposing  the  object  to  have  served  as 
a  weaving  comb) ,  we  do  not  know. 

Deer-hoof  Rattles.  As  in  the  preceding  two  cases,  the  identi- 
fication of  these  specimens  (plate  17,  j,  k)  as  ornaments  is  open  to 
question ;  a  ceremonial  use  is  quite  as  likely.  One  of  them  consists 
of  the  horny  outer  coverings  of  two  large  hoofs,  attached  to  the 
ends  of  a  buckskin  thong. ^  The  other  shown  in  j  is  made  of  much 
smaller  hoofs;  these  are  fastened  to  the  ends  of  thongs  which 
themselves  are  looped  over  a  slim  pliable  twig  and  held  to  it  by  a 
twining  of  fine  cords.  This  is  an  incomplete  specimen,  as  is  an- 
other similar  one  (not  figured,  A-2930)  which  had,  in  place  or  de- 
tached, nearly  a  hundred  hoofs.  There  is  little  doubt  that  the 
stringing  together  of  these  dry  resonant  hoofs  was  done  to  produce 
a  rattUng  sound,  but  whether  the  assemblages  were  employed  as 
belts,  as  fringes,  or  fastened  to  handles  to  form  true  rattles  we 
have  no  means  of  telling. 

Unfmished  Ornament.  This  object  (plate  35,  h,  i),  found  in  the 
general  digging  in  White  Dog  Cave,  is  a  neat  example  of  two  proc- 
esses in  working  stone:  flaking  and  grinding.  The  specimen  is 
a  disc  of  grey  flint,  convex  on  both  sides.  It  was  first  chipped 
roughly  to  its  present  form,  then  ground  to  efface  the  chipped 
surface.  The  grinding  process  was,  however,  not  completed  and 
there  remain  on  either  side  marks  of  chipping,  as  well  as  numerous 
grinding  facets. 

Tablet.  Plate  17,  a,  shows,  partly  restored,  a  tablet-Hke  object 
of  compact  white  limestone  found  in  Cist  6,  White  Dog  Cave. 
The  pieces  fitted  together  have  a  length  of  7  inches,  but  a  number 
of  fragments  that  could  not  be  joined  show  that  the  original  length 
was  considerably  more;  the  greatest  width  is  3  inches,  the  thickness 

1  Modern  Hopi  hoof  rattles  are  figured  by  Hough  (1919,  plate  22). 


Peabodt  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  17 


White  Dog  Cave 
a,  Tablet-like  object  of  stone;  b,  Neck  ornament;  c,  d,  e,  Shell  pendants;  f,  g,  Object  of 
stone;  h,  Stone  pendant;  i,  Object  of  mountain-sheep  horn;  j .  k,  Hoof  rattles.     (About  i.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  51 

uniformly  ^  of  an  inch.  The  edges  are  rounded  and  all  surfaces 
very  smoothly  worked  down  by  grinding.  The  fine  finish  and  the 
fragile  nature  of  this  object  seem  to  indicate  that  it  was  used  as  an 
ornament. 

Head  Ornaments.  An  object,  of  whose  function  we  are  not 
positive,  but  which  was  probably  used  to  decorate  the  hair,  was 
found  on  the  breast  of  mummy  2,  Cist  27  (plate  18,  b).  It  con- 
sists of  five  neatly  made  bone  pins,  each  62  inches  long  and  a  little 
less  than  J  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  fastened  together  side  by  side. 
The  bindings  are  of  sinew ;  the  upper  set  is  overwrapped  with  fine 
fiber  cord  evidently  as  a  finish,  since  the  string,  though  badly  de- 
cayed, shows  traces  of  a  central  red  band.  Projecting  from  the 
top,  and  held  by  the  wrappings  just  described,  were  bundles  of 
small  feathers,  of  which  only  the  butts  of  the  quills  and  traces 
of  the  pile  now  remain.^ 

Figure  a,  plate  18,  shows  a  similar  ornament  from  Cist  6,  made 
up  of  three  wooden  pins  each  10  inches  long  and  |  of  an  inch  in 
diameter.  A  bundle  of  six  wooden  pins,  each  8  inches  in  length 
and  I  of  an  inch  thick,  possibly  ready  to  be  made  into  a  pair  of 
ornaments  hke  the  ones  just  described,  is  figured  in  c.  A  number  of 
finely  fashioned  but  broken  bone  objects,  of  about  the  same  size 
and  shape  as  large  knitting  needles,  some  tied  up  in  bundles,  others 
loose,  were  found  in  the  course  of  the  excavations  in  White  Dog 
Cave;  most  of  them  show  signs  of  long  use.  These  no  doubt  are 
also  unassembled  parts  of  head  ornaments.  There  are  in  the  1915 
collection  similar  broken  bone  pins.^ 

Just  how  these  contrivances  were  worn  we  do  not  know,  but 
from  their  comb-Uke  structure  we  judge  that  they  were  probably 
stuck  in  the  hair,  singly  or  in  pairs.  Some  basis  for  this  belief  is 
found  in  certain  Basket-maker  square-shouldered  pictographs  de- 
picted with  objects  which  may  represent  ornaments  such  as  these 
protruding  from  their  heads.  ^  In  the  Peabody  Museum  there  is  a 
Paiute  ''warrior's  plume,"  made  of  five  wooden  pins  placed  side 
by  side  and  held  together  by  colored  strings  woven  about  them  in 
such  a  way  as  to  produce  a  simple  pattern;  this  specimen  is  not 
feathered,  but  is  otherwise  much  hke  those  from  White  Dog  Cave. 

'  A  fairly  well-preserved  example  from  Grand  Gulch  is  in  the  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History,  New  York  (cat.  no.  H-13375). 
«  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  plate  86,  e. 
'  Ibid.,  figure  101. 


52  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

In  the  Coahuila,  Mexico,  cave  collection  in  the  Museum  there  is 
an  arrangement  of  six  wooden  pins  which  may  be  either  a  head 
ornament  or  a  comb;  we  are  inclined  to  think  the  former,  as  the 
same  collection  contains  an  object  that  is  surely  a  comb,  con- 
structed in  an  entirely  different  manner. 

The  object  shown  on  plate  18,  d,  may  be  an  ornament,  a  pro- 
jectile for  a  dart  game,  or  possibly  a  ceremonial  object;  it  is  a  thin 
twig  with  three  small  feathers  seized  to  it  at  their  butts  and  tips 
by  sinew;  the  ends  of  the  stick  are  broken  off,  so  that  its  original 
length  is  unknown. 

Hair-dressing.  Several  of  the  mummies  from  White  Dog  Cave 
are  in  so  good  a  state  of  preservation  that  their  heads  still  retain 
the  hair,  dressed,  probably,  as  in  life.  On  plate  19  are  illustrated 
the  various  methods ;  figures  a,  b,  c  are  drawn  from  mummies,  and 
d,  is  restored  from  a  scalp  found  in  the  same  district  in  1915.^ 

Figm-e  a,  shows  the  simplest  manner  of  wearing  the  hair,  which 
in  this  case  is  cropped  to  an  average  length  of  2  inches.  The 
raggedness  of  this  haircut  is  apparently  the  result  of  gathering  to- 
gether  and  hacking  off  a  single  lock  at  a  time.  The  individual  in 
question  was  a  female  about  twenty  years  of  age  found  in  Cist 
22  (mummy  2). 

Figure  b,  shows  the  arrangement  of  the  hair  of  an  adult  male  from 
Cist  24.  It  is  parted  in  the  center  from  forehead  to  crown  and  falls 
loose  on  either  side;  that  of  the  back  of  the  head  is  gathered  into  a 
queue,  the  end  of  which  is  turned  back  on  itself  and  wrapped  for  a 
space  of  2  inches  with  a  fine  string.  From  the  crown  there  hangs 
a  lock  the  thickness  of  a  pencil  closely  wound  with  string  for  nearly 
its  entire  length.^  The  end  of  this  tress  is  bound  up  with  the  end  of 
the  queue.  Where  this  lock  grows  from  the  scalp,  the  surrounding 
hair  is  cUpped  away  for  a  little  space. 

Figure  c,  is  drawn  from  the  head  of  a  male  about  twenty-five 
years  old,  from  Cist  22.  The  hair  is  arranged  as  follows :  from  a 
strip  1^  inches  wide  straight  back  from  the  middle  of  the  forehead 
the  hair  has  been  cut  off  close  to  the  scalp.  This  exaggerated 
"  part  "  terminates  at  the  crown  in  a  circular  tonsure  in  the  center 
of  which  there  is  a  thin  lock  of  long  hair.    The  hair  on  either  side 

1  For  pictures  of  this  interesting  specimen,  and  for  a  description  of  its  preparation,  see  Kidder- 
Guernsey,  1919,  plates  87,  88,  and  pp.  190-192. 

'  As  was  noted  on  p.  13,  a  section  of  a  similar  lock  wound  spirally  with  a  leather  cord  was 
found  in  Cist  6,  White  Dog  Cave. 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  18 


White  Dog  Cave 
a,  b,  d-g,  Feather  ornaments;  c,  Package  of  wooden  pins,  probably  used  in 
feather  ornaments.     (About  i.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  53 

of  the  "  part "  is  gathered  together  and  tightly  bound  3^  inches 
from  the  ends  with  fine  human  hair  string;  these  tresses  hang  in 
front  of  the  ears.  The  back  hair,  which  is  about  14  inches  long,  is 
similarly  gathered  together  and  bound  near  the  end  for  a  space  of 
2  inches.  The  lock  from  the  center  of  the  tonsure  is  included  in 
this  binding. 

The  following  description  of  the  scalp  shown  in  d,  is  quoted  from 
our  previous  report:  ^  ''  A  *  part '  1  inch  wide,  from  which  the  hair 
has  been  clipped,  runs  up  to  a  large  semilunar  tonsure  at  the  crown. 
The  brow  tresses  on  either  side  are  gathered  together  in  '  bobs ' 
that  fall  in  front  of  or  over  the  ears,  and  are  tied  up  with  wrappings 
of  apocynum  (?)  string.  The  long  hair  from  just  behind  the  ton- 
sure is  braided  into  a  thin  plait,  the  lower  end  of  which  is  doubled 
back  on  itself  and  bound  with  hair  string.  The  remainder  of  the 
back  hair  is  made  into  a  single  short  thick  '  bob,'  string- wrapped, 
that  falls  to  the  nape  of  the  neck."  As  shown  in  the  drawing  this 
specimen  combines  features  of  both  figures  b  and  c,  but  is  more 
elaborate  than  either.  It  seems  to  have  been  preserved  as  a  trophy 
and  for  this  reason,  when  discussing  it  in  the  earlier  report,  we 
were  in  doubt  as  to  whether  it  represented  a  method  of  hair- 
dressing  practised  by  the  Basket-makers,  or  that  of  some  tribe  of 
which  we  had  no  knowledge.  The  side-bobs  inclined  us  to  the 
belief  that  it  was  a  Basket-maker  style,  as  Basket-maker  picto- 
graphs  are  often  shown  with  "  bobs  "  on  either  side  of  the  head. 
The  finds  from  White  Dog  Cave  serve  of  course  to  confirm  this 
idea. 

Although  many  tribes  shaved  one  portion  or  another  of  the  head, 
and  the  thin  scalp-lock  was  not  an  unusual  thing,  we  can  find  no 
reference  to  analogous  coiffures  ancient  or  modern  with  the  ex- 
ception of  those  of  the  Maya  thus  described  by  Bishop  Landa: 

They  wore  their  hair  long,  like  women.  On  the  top  they  burned  a  sort  of 
tonsure;  they  let  the  hair  grow  around  it,  while  the  hair  of  the  tonsure  re- 
mained short.  They  bound  the  hair  in  braids  about  the  head  with  the  excep- 
tion of  one  lock,  which  they  allowed  to  hang  down  behind  like  a  tassel.^ 

Judging  from  our  material  it  would  seem  that  the  men  dressed 
their  hair  more  elaborately  than  did  the  women. 

1  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  p.  191.  «  Schellhas,  1904,  p.  617. 


54  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

CRADLES  AND  ACCESSORIES 

Rigid  Cradles.  It  seems  well,  before  taking  up  the  several 
empty  cradles  in  the  collection,  to  describe  the  one  case  in  which 
we  have  the  baby  with  all  its  wrappings  still  in  place.  The  bundle 
is  shown  as  found  in  plate  4,  g,  and  plate  21,  c;  its  different  parts 
are  separated  and  spread  out  in  the  other  figures  of  the  former  plate. 
The  infant,  enveloped  in  robes,  is  tied  in  by  means  of  a  criss-cross 
lashing.  The  binding  cord  is  of  human  hair,  four-ply  and  5  feet 
long  (plate  4,  i) ;  it  is  rove  through  a  series  of  string  loops  that  are 
attached  to  the  sides  of  the  cradle.  The  seven  stout  cords  that 
may  be  seen  hanging  loose  on  the  left  side  of  the  unwrapped  bundle 
(plate  4,  g  and  plate  21,  c),  and  laid  out  separately  in  h,  had  prob- 
ably been  used  for  hanging  up  or  transporting  the  cradle;  if  the 
baby  had  not  died  so  soon  (it  can  hardly  be  more  than  a  few  days 
old),  these  cords  would  undoubtedly  have  been  woven  into  a  regular 
carrying  strap  Uke  those  shown  in  plate  23,  k,  1. 

The  outermost  wrapping  is  a  much  tattered  remnant  of  woven 
cloth  (plate  4,  a) ;  it  is  described  on  page  63.  The  second  cover  is 
a  fur-string  baby  blanket,  measuring  17  by  17  inches.  The  body 
of  the  robe  is  of  cords  overlaid  with  strips  of  rabbit  skin,  its  outer 
sides  have  a  border,  two  strands  in  width,  made  of  string,  between 
the  plies  of  which  are  caught  bunches  of  long,  coarse  hair,  probably 
dog.  We  have  called  coverings  of  this  sort  baby  blankets  because 
they  were  obviously  woven  to  their  peculiar  bifurcated  shape  for 
the  special  purpose  of  leaving  an  opening  at  the  place  where  they 
would  otherwise  constantly  have  been  wet  and  soiled.  Inside  this 
blanket  there  was  another  of  exactly  the  same  size  and  shape; 
(plate  4,  f)  but,  because  it  was  to  hold  the  baby  itself,  much  softer 
and  more  carefully  made.  It  is  also  of  string,  wound  with  strips  of 
fluffy  white  fur  from  the  bellies  of  rabbits.  In  handling  this  speci- 
men, one  is  so  impressed  by  the  freshness  of  the  fur  that  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  reconcile  its  perfect  condition  to  its  great  antiquity. 

The  mummy  of  the  infant  (plate  4,  c)  lay  on  this  inner  blanket 
with  the  lower  side-pieces  folded  over  its  legs.  It  was  provided 
with  a  loose  bundle  of  shredded  cedar  bark  to  serve  as  a  diaper 
(c).  On  the  abdomen,  covering  the  navel,  was  a  pad  (d),  made  of 
cedar  bark  sewed  up  in  prairie-dog  skin,  the  hair  side  out.  This 
obviously  acted  as  a  binder  to  prevent  rupture.    The  umbiHcal 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  19 


Styles  of  hair-dressing  as  shown  by  the  remains  from  Basket-maker  caves. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  65 

cord  itself  had  been  dried  and  was  attached  by  a  string  to  one 
corner  of  the  outer  baby  blanket,  so  that  it  hung  directly  before 
the  face  of  the  infant ;  ^  it  may  be  seen  at  the  upper  right-hand 
edge  of  the  blanket  (b) . 

The  cradle  (i)  is  14  inches  long  and  10  inches  wide.  The  frame  is 
a  single  unpeeled  withe,  ^  inch  in  diameter,  bent  into  an  approxi- 
mate oval.  The  body  is  made  of  fifty  straight,  unpeeled  twigs 
placed  close  together;  these  run  transversely  and  are  fastened 
underneath  the  frame  by  a  continuous  lashing  of  fiber  string. 
Along  each  side  of  the  cradle  there  extends  a  stout  cord,  fastened 
to  the  hoop  at  intervals  and  forming  loose  loops  for  the  attachment 
of  the  binder  that  held  the  baby  and  its  wrappings  in  place. 

This  cradle  is  much  the  smallest  in  the  collection  and  is  crudely 
made.  It  shows  none  of  the  careful  finish  and  ornamental  features 
of  the  specimens  about  to  be  described.  The  uncompleted  carrying 
strap,  the  roughly  put-together  umbilical  pad  and  the  small  size 
of  the  baby  itself  all  point  to  the  probabiUty  of  birth  having  taken 
place  before  the  usual  elaborate  ''  layette  "  was  ready. 

There  are  five  other  more  or  less  complete  cradles  in  the  collec- 
tion, all  of  which  were  found  in  White  Dog  Cave.  Four  had  been 
buried  with  babies  upon  them  but  disturbance  in  some  cases  and 
decay  in  others  rendered  it  impossible  to  recover  the  "  mimimy 
bundles  "  in  their  original  condition;  the  fifth  cradle  was  found 
in  rude  Cist  54  (plate  5,  a)  that  contained  no  bones.  While  these 
specimens  are  all  much  aUke  in  general  make-up,  they  differ  con- 
siderably in  details.  As  no  account  of  a  rigid  Basket-maker  cradle 
has  yet  been  pubhshed,  it  seems  worth  while  to  describe  each  one 
of  this  exceptionally  well-preserved  lot. 

The  handsomest  cradle  is  the  one  illustrated,  front  and  back,  in 
plate  20,  a,  b.  It  is  23^  inches  long,  by  14^  inches  wide  at  the 
broadest  part.  The  rim  is  composed  of  two  trimmed  and  peeled 
hardwood  sticks  J  inch  in  diameter,  each  bent  into  a  U;  the  open 
ends  of  the  two  U-shaped  pieces  are  spUced  together  with  their  sides 
overlapping  a  httle;  tight  ligatures  hold  them  in  that  position, 
and  so  envelop  the  joined  ends  that  they  cannot  be  seen.    The 

1  As  recorded  by  Catlin  in  1842,  Vol.  II,  p.  133.  The  custom  of  preserving  the  cord  as  a 
charm  was  practised  by  many  tribes,  particularly  those  of  the  plains.  The  Ute,  Dakota,  Ara- 
paho,  and  Gros  Ventre  enclosed  the  dried  cord  in  more  or  less  elaborate  coverings  of  skin  orna- 
mented with  quill  or  bead  work  and  fashioned  usually  to  represent  reptiles.  These  were  hung 
on  the  front  of  the  cradle  (see  Kroeber,  1908,  pp.  166, 167). 


56  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

body  of  the  cradle  is  made  of  two  series  of  slim  willow  twigs,  from 
which  the  bark  has  been  scraped.  The  transverse  rods  are  ninety- 
nine  in  number;  they  are  laid  as  close  together  as  they  will  fit  and 
are  fastened  at  their  ends  to  the  under  side  of  the  frame  by  a  con- 
tinuous figure-eight  lashing  of  yucca  string.  This  binding  is  over- 
wrapped  with  soft  fiber,  until  the  slightly  protruding  ends  of  the 
rods  are  entirely  hidden,  and  each  side  of  the  cradle  is  built  up 
into  a  soft,  bolster-like  roll  an  inch  in  thickness;  this  in  turn  is 
sewed  up  in  a  cover  of  deer  or  mountain-sheep  hide  dressed  with 
the  hair  on.  The  hard  sides  of  the  hoop  and  the  sharp  projecting 
rod  ends  are  thus  completely  padded  and  form  a  sort  of  rim  along 
the  two  edges  of  the  cradle  on  its  upper  surface. 

The  second,  or  longitudinal,  set  of  rods  consists  of  five  twigs 
running  up  the  middle  of  the  transverse  rods  and  attached  to  them 
by  a  lashing  of  heavy  sinew,  so  arranged  as  to  produce  the  zigzag 
design  seen  in  the  photograph.  The  ends  of  the  longitudinal  twigs 
are  fastened  to  the  head  and  foot  of  the  hoop  in  some  manner  which 
cannot  be  made  out,  because  the  attachment  is  padded  and  tightly 
sewed  up  in  a  hide  covering. 

Tied  around  the  bottom  of  the  hoop  there  is  a  horse-shoe  shaped 
roll  of  cedar  bark,  which  must  have  formed  a  kind  of  soft  platform 
for  the  baby's  feet  to  rest  against  when  the  cradle  was  held  up- 
right. A  series  of  human  hair  strings  are  caught  into  the ' '  bolsters'' 
along  the  sides  of  the  cradle;  these,  like  the  loops  on  the  specimens 
first  described,  were  to  hold  the  laced  binding  cord.  At  the  head 
and  foot  are  much  longer  loops,  designed,  apparently,  for  suspend- 
ing the  cradle  in  a  horizontal  position.^ 

A  double  yucca  string  is  tightly  stretched  across  the  upper  surface 
of  the  cradle  about  8  inches  above  the  foot.  From  just  below 
this  string  to  the  foot,  the  cradle  is  much  discolored  by  the  excreta 
of  the  baby.  The  purpose  of  the  string  was  probably  to  hold  in 
place  the  rather  inefficient  diaper-bundles  of  cedar  bark  or  fiber. 

Plate  20,  c,  d,  illustrates  a  cradle  very  similar  in  shape  to  the 
above;  its  measurements,  23^  by  14 J  inches,  are  almost  identical; 
the  hoop  is  also  made  of  two  pieces  tied  together  at  the  sides.  The 
backing  is  of  reeds  instead  of  twigs;  there  are  eighty-three  in  the 
transverse  series  and  twenty-two  in  the  longitudinal,  the  latter  is 
secured  to  the  former  by  narrow  rawhide  thongs  whose  emergences 

1  See  Saunders,  1912,  photograph  facing  p.  86. 


Peabodt  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  20 


White  Dog  Cave 
a,  b,  Front  and  back  of  cradle,  Cist  35;  c,  d,  Front  and  back  of  cradle,  Cist  54.     (About  1/9.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  67 

produce  a  pattern  of  diamond  figures.  The  longitudinal  reeds 
were  once  attached  to  the  head  and  foot  of  the  bow,  but  their  ends 
are  now  missing.  The  sides  are  padded  with  fiber  and  covered  with 
hide,  and  there  are  the  remnants  of  a  cedar-bark  foot  rest.  The 
ends  of  a  diaper  string  are  present,  but  there  are  no  side  loops  for 
the  laced  binding  cord. 

The  remaining  three  specimens  are  more  nearly  oval  than  the 
two  preceding.  The  largest  one  (plate  21,  b)  is  25  inches  long  by 
12  inches  wide.  Viewed  from  the  side  it  is  rocker-shaped,  but  this 
curve  is  probably  due  to  warping.  The  frame  and  its  side-padding 
(mostly  decayed)  offer  no  new  features,  nor  does  the  method  of 
attachment  of  the  seventy-nine  transverse  willow  backing-rods. 
As  will  be  seen  in  the  plate,  the  longitudinal  rods  are  differently 
arranged;  they  are  in  two  sets  of  six  each,  spaced  well  apart  and 
curving  away  from  each  other  as  they  approach  the  head  of  the 
cradle  where  each  set  is  bent  about  the  side  of  the  frame  and  tied 
back  on  itself;  the  lower  attachments  are  gone.  The  diamond- 
pattern  lashings  that  hold  the  longitudinal  to  the  transverse  rods 
are  of  strips  of  rawhide.  Between  the  two  longitudinal  sets,  and 
also  alongside  them,  the  transverse  rods  are  bound  together  by  a 
sort  of  over-eight-under-eight  twilling  of  leather  thongs  painted 
red.  Side  loops  and  diaper  string  have  disappeared;  the  mark  of 
the  latter,  however,  can  be  made  out  on  the  backing,  and  below  it 
there  are  as  usual  heavy  stains  and  caked  mud. 

The  cradle  shown  in  plate  21,  a,  is  from  the  same  cist  as  the  fore- 
going. It  is  an  elongated  oval,  19 1  by  10^  inches.  Of  the  two 
sticks  bent  to  form  its  frame,  the  upper  one  is  peeled,  the  lower 
unpeeled.  The  sides  are  padded  into  the  usual  long  rolls,  but 
there  is  no  evidence  that  they  were  ever  encased  in  skin;  no  loops 
or  diaper  string  remain.  The  transverse  twigs  are  ninety-eight  in 
number;  the  first  seventeen,  counting  from  the  top,  are  in  natural 
color;  then  comes  a  row  of  eight  rods  dyed  black,  then  eight 
in  natural  color,  eight  black,  eight  natural,  eight  black,  eight 
natural,  and  eight  black;  the  last  twenty-five  to  the  bottom  are 
undyed.  The  eight  longitudinal  twigs  are  not  attached  to  the 
transverse  ones  by  the  usual  ornamental  bindings.  They  are 
turned  about  the  frame  at  the  head  of  the  cradle  and  tied  back  on 
themselves;  at  the  bottom  they  are  cut  off  at  the  level  of  the  last 
transverse  element  and  their  ends  are  made  fast  to  it  by  a  row  of 
twined  yucca  string. 


58  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

The  last  of  the  three  oval  cradles  is  21 1  inches  long,  and  11^ 
inches  across.  The  two  sticks  of  its  frame  are  unpeeled.  There  are 
seventy-seven  transverse  rods  (willow  twigs,  scraped  and  trimmed 
as  usual)  and  seven  longitudinal  ones,  bound  to  the  former  with 
the  conventional  diamond  pattern  of  thong-emergences;  their 
attachments  to  the  top  and  bottom  of  the  frame  have  been  broken 
off.  The  frame  padding  along  the  sides  is  of  string  and  yucca  fiber, 
and  was  once  encased  in  hide.  There  are  no  side-loops,  but  the 
diaper  string  is  still  in  place,  stretched  tightly  across  the  upper 
surface  of  the  cradle  at  a  point  one-third  of  the  distance  from  the 
head  to  the  foot. 

Flexible  Cradles.  These  are  of  two  types.  The  first  has  a  rim 
made  of  a  long  thin  bimdle  of  grass  rolled  tight,  tied  with  yucca 
leaves  and  bent  to  the  same  shape  as  the  wooden  hoop  of  the  rigid 
cradle.  The  body  or  filUng  is  a  rough  mesh  of  yucca  leaves.  The 
second  type  is  a  sort  of  mat  made  from  long  strips  of  cedar  bark 
held  together  by  twined-woven  rows  of  yucca  leaves;  the  edges  of 
the  mat  are  turned  up  and  fastened  together  by  a  yucca  network. 
Both  types  are  illustrated  and  more  fully  described  in  the  report 
on  the  1914-1915  expeditions;  ^  all  the  specimens  recovered  in 
1916-1917  were  very  fragmentary,  but  enough  of  them  were  found 
to  show  that  these  cradles  were  in  coromon  use. 

Umbilical  Pads.  During  the  early  part  of  the  1916  season  there 
were  taken  from  the  graves  of  infants  a  number  of  flat  pads,  made 
by  sewing  up  various  substances  in  covers  of  prairie-dog  hide. 
Their  use,  at  first  doubtful,  was  made  clear  when  the  well-preserved 
baby  burial  from  Cist  13  was  examined,  and  a  similar  pad  (plate  4, 
d)  was  found  lying  against  the  navel  of  the  infant;  a  second  case 
(infant  from  Cist  35)  was  discovered  later.  It  was  then  obvious 
that  all  these  specimens  had  been  used  as  are  our  modern  "  binders" 
to  prevent  umbiHcal  hernia  by  exerting  pressure  on  the  navel  of 
the  new-born  child. 

Each  of  these  pads  has  a  fight  but  rigid  or  semi-rigid  core,  most 
commonly  made  of  five  or  six  corncobs  cut  to  equal  length  and 
bound  together  side  by  side;  several  examples  are  whittled  from 
slabs  of  yellow-pine  bark  (plate  22,  c) ;  ^  still  others  consist  of  a 
rope  or  tight  twist  of  cedar  bark,  coiled  and  sewed  to  itseK  to  form 

1  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  pp.  165,  166;  plates  71,  b;  72,  a,  b. 

2  The  piece  of  bark  figured  in  our  first  report  (Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  plate  85,  b),  and 
classed  as  problematical  is  one  of  these. 


Peabodt  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  21 


White  Dog  Cave 

a,  b,  Cradles;  c,  Cradle  containing  mummy  of  child,  Cist  13;  d,  Package  containing 

mummy  of  child,  Cist  35.     (About  1/10.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  59 

a  small  oval  mat  (plate  22,  b) ;  in  one  case  a  thin  slab  of  sandstone 
is  used.^  The  crudest  were  wads  of  cedar  bark  or  grass.  The  cores 
were  wrapped  and  padded  with  shredded  cedar  bark,  more  or  less 
thickly  according  to  their  hardness,  and  were  finally  enclosed  in 
prairie-dog  skin  covers  prepared  as  follows  (plate  22,  a) ;  the  com- 
plete hide  was  trimmed  by  cutting  away  the  feet  and  tail,  and 
shaped  into  a  long  bag  with  the  fur  outside.  The  padded  core  was 
placed  in  the  bottom  of  this,  the  upper  part  folded  down,  and  the 
whole  neatly  sewed  up  with  sinew  or  fine  fiber  thread.  There  is 
one  specimen  (plate  31,  a)  to  which  is  still  attached  the  narrow 
human  hair  string  band  that  formerly  held  it  in  place  against  the 
abdomen  of  the  infant. 

BASKETRY 

Coiled  Basketry.  The  Basket-maker  culture  was  so  named  by 
the  Wetherill  brothers  because  of  the  abundance  of  baskets  found 
in  the  graves.  The  burials  of  this  people  excavated  by  the  Pea- 
body  Museum  expeditions  in  Marsh  Pass  ran  true  to  type  in  this 
respect  as  in  all  others;  and,  wherever  the  cists  were  protected 
from  moisture  and  undisturbed  by  ancient  looters,  fine  specimens 
were  always  to  be  found,  while  throughout  the  general  digging  in 
the  caves  fragments  of  worn-out  baskets  were  encountered  in 
great  abundance. 

All  the  specimens  recovered  were  of  the  coiled  variety,  no  case 
of  twining,  checkerwork,  or  wickerwork  having  been  found;  a 
single  twilled  example,  in  reality  more  like  a  flexible  pouch  than 
a  true  basket,  will  be  described  later.  In  weave  the  coiled  baskets 
form  a  very  homogeneous  group ;  they  are  made  over  a  foundation 
consisting  of  two  sUm  osiers  laid  side  by  side,  with  a  padding  or 
welt  of  yucca  fiber  or  shredded  roots.  The  sewing  elements  are 
wooden  spHnts  averaging  a  Uttle  less  than  |  inch  wide;  they  enclose 
the  rods  and  the  fibrous  padding  bundle  and  also  pass  through 
about  half  of  the  bundle  of  the  coil  below.  It  is  this  gripping  of  the 
bundle  of  the  lower  coil  which  alone  holds  the  fabric  together,  as 
the  stitches  of  one  coil  never  interlock  with  those  of  the  coil  below 
them.2   While  the  weave  is  so  solid  and  compact  that  many  of  the 

»  For  a  description  of  this  specimen  see  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  p.  192;  its  use  was  then 
unknown  to  us. 

2  For  a  diagram  of  the  weave,  see  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  figure  80. 


60  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

better  pieces  must  have  been  watertight,  it  never  attains  the  fine- 
ness of  texture  seen  in  many  Cahfornia  coiled  baskets.  These 
ancient  weavers  strove,  apparently,  for  strength  and  serviceabiUty 
rather  than  for  refinement  of  technic.  No  more  stitches  than 
necessary  were  used;  hence  the  relatively  great  width  of  the  in- 
dividual sewing  splints  and  their  broad  spacing,  which  allows  the 
foundation  to  appear  between  them.  The  average  tray  basket  has 
five  coils  to  the  inch  and  nine  to  eleven  stitches  along  each  inch  of 
coil;  the  finest  specimen  has  eight  coils  and  twelve  stitches;  the 
coarsest,  a  fragment  from  a  large  pannier,  has  coils  |  inch  wide  and 
six  to  seven  stitches  to  the  inch  of  coil.  The  edge  bindings  of  all 
the  baskets  save  one  are  in  simple  wrapping;  the  exception  is  a 
bowl-shaped  piece  (plate  23,  i)  in  which  the  entire  rim  is  finished 
in  "  false-braid  "  as  in  Navajo  baskets.^ 

Our  specimens  fall  into  the  following  five  classes : 

1.  Trays  4.   Water  baskets 

2.  Bowls  5.   Trinket  baskets 

3.  Carrying  baskets 

Trays.  This  is  by  far  the  commonest  type.  The  examples  are 
very  flat,  and  run  from  12  to  24  inches  in  diameter.  They  were 
probably  used  for  the  serving  of  food,  and  perhaps  in  gambling. 
One  tray  (plate  23,  j)  obviously  had  another  purpose;  about  its 
rim  at  equal  distances  apart  were  four  loops,  two  of  which  remain 
(the  others  were  in  place  when  found,  but  soon  crumbled  away). 
Each  loop  is  made  of  a  twig  tied  into  a  circle  2  inches  in  diameter 
and  is  attached  to  the  rim  of  the  basket  by  a  short  buckskin  thong. 
The  whole  interior  of  the  tray  shows  much  wear,  particularly  severe 
at  the  bottom  where,  indeed,  it  had  begun  to  give  out  and  was  re- 
enforced  by  overstitching  with  new  spHnts,  which  themselves 
were  partly  worn  through.  The  outside  and  bottom  exhibit  no 
wear  at  all.  It  seems  hkely  that  this  basket  was  suspended  by  the 
loops  and  used  for  the  simultaneous  hulHng  and  winnowing  of 
seeds  too  dehcate  to  be  shelled  in  a  mortar.  The  process  might 
have  been  to  keep  a  stone  rolHng  among  the  seeds  by  shaking  the 
suspended  tray,  and  to  blow  off  the  hulls  as  they  were  detached  by 

1  For  details  of  this  stitch,  see  Mason,  1904,  figure  197.  A  Basket-maker  basket  from  Grand 
Gulch,  in  which  the  last  inch  of  the  terminal  coil  is  done  in  "false-braid"  is  mentioned  by 
Pepper  (1902,  p.  16);  exactly  the  same  treatment  appears  in  a  basket  from  Step  House,  Mesa 
Verde  (Nordenskiold,  1893.  plate  XLIV,  4);  Dieguefio  and  Kawia  (southern  California) 
tray  baskets  also  have  the  last  inch  of  coil  in  "false-braid"  (Peabody  Museum  Collections). 


Peabodt  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  22 


White  Dog  Cave 
a.  Covering  for  umbilical  pad;  b,  c,  Umbilical  pads.     (About  f.) 


i 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  61 


'he  bruising  of  the  stone.  This  explanation  is,  of  course,  pure 
guesswork,  but  it  seems  to  account  satisfactorily  for  the  presence 
of  the  loops  and  for  the  excessive  wear  on  the  inside. 

Bowls.  As  will  be  seen  in  the  illustrations  (plate  23,  a,  c,  f)  these 
baskets  are  of  lesser  diameter  than  the  trays  and  of  much  greater 
depth ;  their  bottoms  are  flat  and  the  sides  rise  more  or  less  steeply. 
The  largest  is  14  inches  wide  at  the  mouth,  by  8  inches  deep.  We 
beUeve  that  some  of  the  larger  bowls  were  used  for  boiUng  by  the 
hot  stone  method,  as  two  examples  are  heavily  daubed  with  a 
mixture  of  mud  and  ashes  appHed,  apparently,  to  render  them 
watertight;  they  also  have  a  soiled  and  battered  look  and  many 
patches  that  indicate  hard  use. 

Carrying  Baskets.  These  are  the  largest  of  the  coiled  baskets, 
measuring  28  to  30  inches  in  diameter  at  the  top,  by  17  to  20  inches 
deep.  They  have  pointed  bottoms,  oval  in  cross-section;  and 
widely  flaring  upper  parts  (plate  23,  k,  1).  By  actual  count  of  coils 
and  stitches  to  the  inch  these  are  the  coarsest  of  the  baskets,  yet 
they  are  as  carefully  and  regularly  woven  as  the  finest;  are  very 
strong,  but  flexible  enough  to  adapt  themselves  to  the  curves  of 
the  neck  and  shoulders  of  their  bearers.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
they  served  as  panniers  for  carrjdng  loads  on  the  back;  their  shape 
and  the  use  of  similar  forms  by  modern  tribes  are  sufl&cient  indica- 
tions. The  identification,  however,  is  rendered  certain  by  the  fact 
that  they  all  have  pairs  of  loops,  usually  of  human  hair  string, 
worked  into  their  sides  at  the  proper  height  for  the  attachment  of 
head  bands.  In  two  specimens  these  bands  are  still  in  place.  The 
common  use  of  these  panniers  to  cover  interments  is,  of  course,  a 
secondary  one. 

Water  Baskets.  The  excavations  of  1916-1917  produced  no 
whole  specimen  of  this  type,  yet  fragments  of  oval  bottoms  of  a 
finer  weave  than  is  usual  in  panniers  seem  to  indicate  that  such 
baskets  were  not  rare.  A  fine  example  from  Cave  II,  Kinboko,  is 
figured  in  oiu-  former  report.  Dimensions :  total  height  17  inches, 
greatest  diameter  14f  inches,  orifice  4^  inches.  It  has  an  elongated 
base,  oval  in  cross-section.  The  upper  part  flares  out  and  becomes 
round;  it  is  constricted  again  at  the  top,  and  the  orifice  is  small. 
There  does  not  seem  to  have  been  a  neck,  but  there  is  some  evi- 
dence that  there  was  once  a  string-hinged  cover.  On  opposite 
sides,  just  below  the  point  of  greatest  diameter,  are  pairs  of  carry- 


62  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

ing  loops  made  by  twisting  into  a  heavy  cord  eight  or  ten  two- 
strand  human  hair  strings.  The  entire  inner  surface  of  the  basket 
is  thickly  pitched  with  pinon  gum,  and  the  same  material  has  been 
daubed  on  such  parts  of  the  exterior  as  had  begun  to  wear  through. 
A  design  of  small  stepped  units  may  be  faintly  made  out  on  the 
upper  curve. ^ 

Trinket  Baskets.  These  are  neatly  made  little  receptacles  with 
round  bodies  and  small  orifices.  The  range  of  sizes  and  shapes  is 
shown  in  the  illustrations  (plates  23,  h,  and  24,  d).  It  is  prob- 
able that  these  baskets  were  put  to  a  variety  of  uses;  many  of 
those  found  in  the  graves  contained  small  trinkets  of  one  sort  or 
another. 

Decoration.  Baskets  of  all  the  above  types  were  ornamented 
with  designs  in  black.  Red  elements,  reported  by  Pepper  ^  in 
Grand  Gulch  baskets,  are  not  found  in  our  collection.  The  designs 
are  of  great  interest  because  they  are  without  much  doubt  the 
oldest  examples  of  basketry  ornamentation  that  have  yet  come  to 
light  in  the  United  States.  Furthermore,  they  illustrate  the  deco- 
rative art  of  a  people  who  preceded  the  pottery-making  tribes  of 
the  region,  and  so  may  eventually  be  expected  to  throw  light  on  the 
vexed  question  of  whether  or  not  southwestern  pottery  designs 
developed  from  those  of  basketry.  We  give,  accordingly,  all  the 
decorations  that  are  sufficiently  well-preserved  to  copy  (plate  24). 
These,  together  with  the  fine  series  of  baskets  figured  by  Pepper,^ 
will  give  the  reader  a  very  good  idea  of  the  make-up  of  the  designs. 
Descriptions  of  the  patterns  tell  no  more  than  do  the  pictures,  and 
any  attempt  to  supply  symbolical  meanings  to  designs  as  old  as 
these  would  naturally  be  pure  guesswork.  We  have  made  notes 
towards  a  comparative  study  of  these  and  the  designs  of  the  baskets 
from  the  Plateau  and  Pacific  Coast  areas,  but  they  are  as  yet  far 
from  coniplete,  nor  have  we  space  in  this  publication  to  present  the 
mass  of  data  which  has  already  accumulated.  It  may  be  said, 
however,  that  the  art  as  a  whole  seems  to  find  its  nearest  parallel 
in  that  of  the  central  and  northern  California  tribes.  In  technic, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  baskets  most  closely  resemble  those  of  the 
Paiute. 

1  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  p.  170  and  plate  78. 

2  1902,  p.  15. 

•  Ibid.,  the  same  pictures  may  also  be  found  in  Mason,  1904,  a  more  accessible  publication, 
plates  84,  104,  and  205  to  211  inclusive. 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  23 


Baskets:  All  from  White  Dog  Cave  with  the  exception  of  h,  which  is  from  Cave  1, 
Kinboko  Canyon,  Marsh  Pass.     (About  1/16.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  63 

Twilled  Basketry.  The  only  specimen  in  this  weave  is  a  flexible 
bag-hke  basket  of  yucca  leaves  with  flattened  spherical  body  and 
small  mouth.  Although  it  is  fragmentary,  the  following  measure- 
ments are  approximately  correct:  width  8^  inches;  depth  4^ 
inches;  diameter  of  aperture  4  inches.  It  is  made  of  entire  leaves 
of  Yucca  angustifolia ;  the  butts  of  the  leaves  are  turned  outward 
over  a  heavy  fiber  cord  that  rings  the  mouth  of  the  basket,  and  are 
fastened  by  twined  strings.  The  long  ends  of  the  leaves  are  then 
plaited  together,  over-two-under-two,  to  form  the  body.  The 
bottom  is  not  woven,  the  last  couple  of  inches  of  the  leaves  being 
simply  laid  across  each  other  and  tied  in  that  position  with  string 
(plate  23,  b). 

Although  the  over-two-imder-two  weave  is  the  same,  this  speci- 
men is  entirely  different  from  the  twilled  ring  baskets  so  abundantly 
found  in  cliff-houses. ^  The  latter  are  always  bowl-shaped  and  have 
a  wooden  hoop  at  the  edge.  They  are  fabricated  upwards  from  the 
bottom;  not,  as  in  this  case,  downwards  from  the  rim.  No  trace 
of  ring  baskets  has  yet  come  to  light  in  our  excavations  in  Basket- 
maker  caves;  a  bit  of  twilled  work  found  in  Cave  1,  1915,^  was 
probably  part  of  a  flexible  bag-basket  like  the  present  one. 

TEXTILES 

Plain  Weaving.  As  the  collection  of  Basket-maker  textiles 
described  in  our  first  report  contained  no  example  of  straight  over- 
and-under  weaving,  we  believed  that  the  Basket-makers  practised 
but  two  technics,  namely  twining  and  coiled-netting  (coil  without 
foundation).  Among  the  material  collected  in  1916-1917  there 
are,  however,  three  pieces  of  plain  over-and-imder  weave.  The 
largest  of  these  is  the  cloth  outer  wrapping  of  the  infant  from  Cist 
13,  White  Dog  Cave.  Though  much  torn  and  showing  long  use, 
enough  remains  so  that  by  arranging  tattered  ends  of  selvage  in 
their  proper  positions  one  dimension  is  shown  to  be  27^  inches.  The 
other,  based  on  extending  the  design  to  a  synometrical  termination, 
would  be  26  inches.  It  is  probable  that  allowing  for  error  in  these 
measurements  the  original  piece  was  square.    The  general  appear- 

1  See  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  p.  108  and  plate  43.  The  specimens  figured  by  Pepper  (1902, 
p.  23)  are  probably  not  Basket-maker,  particularly  as  one  of  them  was  foimd  filled  with  beans; 
the  basket  shown  on  p.  25,  however,  seeme  to  be  identical  with  the  one  under  discussion. 

2  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  p.  167. 


64  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

ance  of  the  fabric  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  twined-woven  bags 
both  in  color  and  design,  the  difference  in  technic  not  being  ap- 
parent at  first  sight.  The  weave  is  rather  coarse,  having  nine  warp 
and  fifteen  weft  strands  to  the  inch.  Both  warp  and  weft  are  of 
a  uniform  sized  two-strand  twist  of  rather  coarse  vegetal  fiber  pre- 
sumably yucca.  As  far  as  it  is  possible  to  work  it  out  from  the  scant 
material  at  hand  the  weave  is  as  shown  in  the  diagrammatic  draw- 
ing, figure  11,  b.  Details  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  warp  edge 
is  finished  appear  in  figure  11,  b,  and  plate  25,  c.  The  warp  ends  are 
cut  close  and  the  weft  kept  from  unraveling  by  a  buttonhole  stitch. 
The  edge  running  parallel  to  the  warp  is  finished  by  twining  two 
fine  strands  of  human  hair  through  the  loops  that  result  from 
turning  back  the  weft  for  a  new  start;  this  also  is  illustrated  in 
figure  11,  b. 

In  the  photograph,  plate  4,  a,  there  is  seen  at  one  point  a  circular 
hole,  cut  in  the  fabric,  and  finished  all  around  by  overcasting  with 
fiber  thread.  The  design  (plate  26,  b)  consists  of  a  series  of  large 
rectangles  arranged  in  three  rows,  the  two  outside  rows  red,  the 
center  one  black.  The  units  average  2^  inches  long  by  1^  inches 
wide.  Separately  dyed  elements  were  not  introduced  to  produce 
the  design;  but  apparently,  when  the  weaving  reached  a  point 
where  a  change  of  color  was  desired,  the  weft  strand  was  thoroughly 
rubbed  with  color  for  the  required  length  and  then  woven  in.  The 
warp  cords  show  little  color,  such  as  appears  on  them  probably  re- 
sulting from  contact  with  the  weft.  It  is  possible  that  the  finished 
piece  may  have  been  treated  with  some  mordant  to  fix  the  dye. 

The  second  example  of  this  weave  is  a  fragment  12  inches  long 
by  2  inches  wide  in  very  bad  condition,  one  end  showing  darning. 
It  is  also  from  White  Dog  Cave.  There  are  traces  of  a  broad 
design  in  red,  the  exact  character  of  which  cannot  be  determined. 
The  piece  appears  to  be  a  part  of  a  blanket  very  similar  to  the  one 
just  described.  There  remains  a  short  section  of  one  edge  finished 
with  a  thread  of  himian  hair  twined  through  the  weft  loops. 

The  third  piece,  from  Cave  11,  Sagiotsosi,  was  found  with  the 
disturbed  burial  described  on  page  37.  It  is  very  evenly  woven 
with  fourteen  warp  and  twenty-one  weft  strands  to  the  inch.  The 
fragment  has  a  length  one  way  of  12  inches,  and  is  a  part  of  one 
corner  of  the  original  piece,  so  that  two  edges  remain.  Both  warp 
and  weft  edges  are  finished  in  the  same  manner  as  the  one  first  de- 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  24 


Baskets:  All  from  White  Dog  Cave  with  the  exception  of  d,  which  is  from  Cave  2, 
Kinboko  Canyon,  Marsh  Pass.     (About  1/16.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA 


65 


scribed :  a  buttonhole  stitch  of  fine  string,  and  human  hair  twining 
thread  respectively.  The  design  is  in  red  and  black,  and  so  far  as 
it  can  be  traced  is  shown  in  plate  26,  c.  It  is  painted,  not  woven, 
and  the  color  was  applied  only  to  one  side  of  the  cloth;  the  red 
pigment  has  soaked  through  the  fabric  and  the  red  parts  of  the 
design  appear  faintly  on  the  back.  The  black  paint  has  not  soaked 
through  at  all.  To  the  comer  is  tied  a  dressed  leather  thong,  which 
leads  us  to  think  that  it  may  have  been  part  of  a  garment. 

These  fabrics  remind  one  strongly  of  the  Coahuila  cave  textiles, 
many  of  which  are  large  poncho-like  blankets  woven  in  the  same 


FlGURB  11 

a,  Detail  of  weave,  fur  cloth  blankets;  b,  Plain  woven  cloth,  detail  of  weave  and  selvage. 

way  as  these,  and  also  have  one  edge  finished  with  the  buttonhole 
stitch.  The  latter  resemblance  seems  significant,  since  we  have 
not  been  able  to  find  in  the  Museimi  collection  textiles  from  any 
other  region  so  finished.  The  designs,  it  is  true,  are  different, 
though  some  of  the  elements  seen  in  the  Basket-maker  twined- 
woven  bags  are  also  found  in  the  Coahuila  blankets. 

The  zigzag  lines  seen  in  the  second  specimen  (plate  26,  c)  are 
very  similar  to  the  zigzags  painted  on  the  breasts  of  certain  square- 
shouldered  Basket-maker  pictographs  from  the  Monuments.^ 
This  resemblance  has  suggested  to  us  that  these  woven  fabrics 
may  have  been  used  as  shirts. 

Twined  Weaving.  The  bags  illustrated  on  plates  26,  28,  and  30 
form  one  of  the  most  interesting  groups  in  the  collection,  not  only 


Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  p.  197,  figures  100,  101. 


66  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

because  of  the  excellence  of  their  manufacture  and  the  variety  and 
beauty  of  their  decoration,  but  also  because  they  are  so  peculiarly 
characteristic  of  the  Basket-maker  culture.  We  have,  fortunately, 
a  large  amount  of  material :  complete  bags  to  illustrate  size,  shape, 
and  design ;  and  great  numbers  of  rags  and  fragments  to  make  clear 
the  details  of  technic. 

The  bags  are  flexible  seamless  sacks  with  full,  round  bodies  and 
long,  gradually  constricted  necks  (plate  26,  a,  d).  They  range  from 
1§  inches  to  2  feet  or  more  in  length.  All  are  made  in  the  same 
way,  of  close  twined  weaving;  the  majority  of  specimens  have 
both  warp  and  weft  of  two-ply  apocynum  string,  though  some 
have  yucca  warp  and  apocynum  weft.  The  combination  of  apocy- 
mmi  warp  and  yucca  weft  is  rare. 

Our  study  of  the  weave  was  begun  by  examining  the  bottoms  of 
the  bags  in  order  to  make  out  how  the  preliminary  ''  set-up  "  of 
the  warp  cords  was  accomplished.  By  dissecting  several  frag- 
mentary specimens  we  found  that  there  were  two  methods,  one 
common,  the  other  rare.  The  former  was  as  follows:  six  long 
strands  were  laid  across  each  other,  three  above  and  three  below 
(figure  12,  a);  the  middle  strand  of  each  set  of  three  runs  out 
straight,  the  others  are  bent  so  that  their  ends  radiate  from  the 
common  center.  There  are  thus  produced  twelve  original  warps. 
The  second  method  consists  of  twisting  three  strands  about  each 
other  and  then  bending  their  ends  so  that  they  radiate  and  form 
six  warp  cords  (figure  12,  b). 

The  above  systems  are  very  simple  and  practical,  and  avoid  the 
ugly  lump  and  the  potential  weakness  in  the  fabric  which  would 
have  been  the  result  of  knotting  the  warps  together  at  the  base. 
The  method  of  inserting  the  weft  also  obviates  knotting :  a  single 
long  string  is  worked  over  and  under  the  radiating  warp  cords  close 
about  their  common  center;  this  is  shown  slack  in  figure  12,  a,  b; 
in  reality  it  is  pulled  up  very  tight  and  holds  the  warp  firmly  to- 
gether. When  a  circuit  of  the  spoke -like  warps  has  been  made, 
the  two  ends  of  the  weft  string  of  course  come  together;  they  are 
then  combined  into  a  single  strand  of  twined  weaving,  which  con- 
tinues spirally  around  and  around  to  form  the  body  of  the  bag 
fabric. 

To  return  to  the  warp-skeleton.  Many  large  bags  have  as  many 
as  three  hundred  and  fifty  warps  at  their  point  of  greatest  diameter. 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  25 


w^m. 


a,  Pottery,  Cave  6;  b,  Twined- woven  fabric,  White  Dog  Cave;  c,  Plain  woven  fabric,  Sagiotsosi 
Canyon;  d,  Coiled  netted  fabric.  White  Dog  Cave;  e-h.  Necklaces,  White  Dog  Cave. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA 


67 


It  is  obvious  that  these  could  not  all  come  together  at  the  bottom 
of  the  bag;  hence  the  base  begins  with  six  or  twelve  warps  only 
(as  described  above)  and  sets  of  new  cords  are  introduced  as  the 
original  ones  radiate  away  from  each  other.  Upon  the  number  of 
new  warps  depends  the  size  of  the  finished  bag;  and  upon  the 
rapidity  of  their  insertion  depends  the  degree  of  flare  imparted  to 
the  base.  If  many  new  warps  are  added  close  to  the  bottom,  the 
latter  will  naturally  be  very  flat;  if  they  are  put  in  more  gradually 
the  bag  will  have  an  egg-shaped  base.    Figures  13,  a,  b,  illustrate 


1 


Figure  12 

Methods  of  arranging  and  binding  warp  cords  when  beginning  the  construction  of 

twined-woven  bags.     The  weft  cords  are  shown  in  solid  black. 


this;  each  one  represents,  diagrammatically,  a  circle  about  1^ 
inches  in  diameter  at  the  bottom  of  a  bag.  In  figure  13,  a,  the 
original  twelve  warp  cords  are  multipUed  to  forty-eight  by  two 
series  of  insertions,  the  first  or  inner  series  consisting  of  twelve 
new  cords,  the  second  of  twenty-four.  In  figure  13,  b,  the  same 
total  is  arrived  at,  but  there  are  three  series  of  insertions;  the 
first  of  six,  the  next  of  twelve  and  an  outer  one  of  twenty-four. 
Figure  13,  c,  shows  an  area  of  bottom  no  greater  than  in  the  former 
specimens,  but  containing  seventy-six  warps,  set  in  as  follows: 
original  series  twelve,  first  insertion  series  twelve,  second  series 
fourteen,  third  thirty-eight.  The  weft  in  all  three  cases  is  woven 
in  with  approximately  the  same  degree  of  tightness;  hence  the 
warps  of  a  and  b  are  pulled  close  to  each  other  and  the  bags  have 


68 


BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 


narrower  bottoms  than  in  c,  where  the  quicker  insertion  of  warps 
allows  the  base  to  grow  rapidly  broader. 

We  have  not  yet  mentioned  the  actual  method  of  inserting  new 
warps.  Two  ways  were  employed.  In  one  (plate  27,  b)  the  string 
to  be  added  was  looped  and  laid  between  two  of  the  old  warps 
(b,  W)  thus  forming  two  new  ones  (a,  a') ;  the  first  two  or  three 
turns  of  the  weft  (c,  cO  attach  the  new  strands  to  the  old  warps  on 
either  side  of  them  holding  all  firmly  in  place ;  the  next  turn  of 
weft  (d)  takes  in  each  new  element  separately  and  the  weaving 
continues  normally. 

In  the  second  method  (plate  27,  a),  the  strand  to  be  added  was 
doubled  into  a  loop,  making,  as  before,  two  new  warps;  the  string 


Figure  13 
Methods  of  inserting  new  warp  cords  to  increase  diameter  of  bottom  of  bags. 


at  the  bend  of  the  loop  was  twisted  apart  into  its  two  component 
pUes  and  one  of  the  old  warps  (b)  was  threaded  through  the  re- 
sultant opening;  the  loop  (a,  a')  was  then  slid  up  the  old  warp  and 
brought  close  against  the  last  woven  turn  of  the  weft  (c),  thus 
producing  a  pair  of  new  warps  (a,  a')  one  on  each  side  of  the  original 
one  (b) ;  on  its  next  revolution  about  the  bag  the  weft  (d)  takes  in 
the  two  new  warps  and  holds  them  solidly. 

By  the  two  methods  just  detailed  the  new  warps  become  integral 
parts  of  the  fabric  without  leaving  any  loose  ends  and  without 
necessitating  any  disfiguring  knots.  The  tension  on  the  warps, 
however,  incident  to  the  use  of  the  bags,  tends  to  pull  the  loops 
very  tight  and  so  away  from  the  last  weft  turn  woven  previously 
to  their  insertion,  thus  producing  the  little  open  space  in  the  web 
indicated  in  the  two  figures.  Where  many  new  warp-pairs  were 
introduced  (as  in  the  outer  circle  of  figure  13,  c)  these  little  holes 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  26 


Red. 
Block 


Textile  designs:  a  d,  Twined-woven  bags;  b,  c,  Plain  woven  cloth. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  69 

naturally  lie  close  together  and  make  very  characteristic  open-work 
rings  about  the  bottoms  of  the  bags. 

The  two  different  ways  of  adding  warps  (figure  13,  a,  b)  are  about 
equally  common.  In  most  bags  either  one  or  the  other  is  adhered 
to;  occasionally  the  two  are  mixed  (figure  13,  c).  All  bags  seem 
to  start  with  either  six  or  twelve  original  warps,  the  ultimate  size 
of  the  fabric  depending  on  the  number  of  new  ones  introduced;  a 
medium-large  bag  (A-3054)  had  at  its  point  of  greatest  diameter 
a  total  of  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  warps.  Almost  all  speci- 
mens are  more  or  less  constricted  toward  the  mouth;  this  is  accom- 
plished partly  by  tightening  the  twining  of  the  weft  and  thus 
bringing  the  warp  closer  together,  and  partly  by  dropping  out 
warps.  A  warp  to  be  dropped  is  merely  cut  off  and  its  end  hidden 
by  the  next  turn  of  the  weft. 

The  final  point  in  the  study  of  the  warps  is  the  method  of  secur- 
ing them  at  the  edge  or  mouth  of  the  bag  to  insure  a  strong  and 
ravel-proof  selvage.  This  was  sometimes  accompHshed  by  turning 
the  warp  ends  about  a  stout  edge-string  (figure  14,  a)  and  running 
them  back  a  little  way  on  themselves;  they  were  held  in  this 
position  by  the  last  few  turns  of  the  weft;  their  loops  about  the 
edge  cord  were  then  pulled  tight  and  the  ends  of  the  cords  clipped 
off  close  to  the  fabric.  In  other  cases  the  warp  ends  were  looped 
under  each  other,  then  gathered  into  bundles  of  four  or  five, 
tucked  with  an  awl  through  the  fabric  just  below  the  edge  and 
finally  clipped  (figure  14,  b) .  A  third  method  also  dispensed  with 
the  edge-cord:  each  warp  was  bent  at  the  edge,  paired  with  the 
warp  next  it,  run  back  along  it  towards  the  bottom  of  the  bag,  held 
by  the  upper  weft-turns,  pulled  snug,  and  chpped  (figure  14,  c).^ 

We  now  take  up  the  twining  of  the  weft,  which  is  perfectly 
simple  and  regular.  It  begins  at  the  very  bottom  (figure  12,  a,  b) 
and  continues  in  a  close  spiral  to  the  mouth.  Fresh  lengths  of  weft 
string  were  not  tied  to  the  ends  of  the  old  ones  (these  weavers 
seem  to  have  had  a  deep-seated  aversion  to  knots),  but  were  run 
a  Httle  way  with  them  until  firmly  set.  The  entire  weft,  while 
made,  of  course,  of  many  pieces,  is  thus  essentially  continuous. 
The  method  of  procedure  is  unknown;  it  is  probable,  however,  that 
the  work  was  downward,  the  base  of  the  bag  having  been  attached 

1  Compare  with  a  similar  method  of  fastening  warp  ends  in  Clifif-dweller  sandal  heels  (Kidder- 
Guernsey,  1919,  p.  104  and  figure  38). 


70  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

to  a  limb  or  pole  and  the  warps  allowed  to  hang  either  free  or  tied 
in  loose  bunches  to  prevent  tangling. ^  The  twelve-year  old 
daughter  of  one  of  the  authors  has  experimented  with  this  tech- 
nic  and  has  quickly  become  expert  in  making  the  bags.  She 
holds  the  two  weft-strings  loosely  across  the  palm  of  her  hand 
separated  by  the  index  finger  and  gives  the  twist  necessary  to  cross 
them  between  warps  by  merely  turning  the  hand  over.  Each  suc- 
cessive warp  is  hooked  up  and  drawn  between  the  wefts  with  the 
index  finger.    No  tool  is  necessary  for  beating  up  the  weft,  as  it 


«  b 

FiGTJKE  14 

Various  methods  of  finishing  the  top  of  twined-woven  bags. 

can  be  made  to  sit  tightly  by  a  slight  pull  after  every  few  warp 
crossings. 

The  weave  of  the  ancient  specimens  is  very  even,  and  the  number 
of  wefts  per  inch  over  the  whole  surface  of  any  given  bag  is  always 
practically  the  same,  though  the  warps  at  the  necks  of  constricted 
examples  are  pulled  somewhat  closer  together  than  they  are  at  the 
swell  of  the  bodies.  The  coarsest  weave  in  the  collection  (A-3005) 
has  five  warps  and  fourteen  weft-pairs  per  square  inch ;  the  finest 
(A-3161)  has  fom*teen  warps  and  twenty-three  weft-pairs.  The 
normal  texture  lies  approximately  half  way  between  these  two 
extremes  with  about  nine  warps  and  seventeen  or  eighteen  weft- 
pairs. 

The  decoration  of  the  bags  is  no  less  interesting  than  their 
structure.  There  are  two  styles,  woven  and  painted,  both  some- 
times appearing  on  the  same  piece. 

The  woven  ornaments  were  accomplished  by  what  may  be 
termed  the  "  dyed  weft  "  process.  When  a  band  of  color  was  to 
be  introduced  a  new  weft-pair  of  the  desired  shade  was  not  added, 

J  See  a  picture  of  a  Virginia  Indian  woman  weaving  a  bag-like  basket,  Mason,  1904,  figure 
148. 


Peabodt  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  27 


a-e,  Details  of  twined- woven  bags;  f.  Detail  of  plain  woven  carrying-strap. 


I 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  71 

but  the  weft  then  in  use  was  itself  stained  or  rubbed  with  dye  for 
the  requisite  length  and  then  woven  in.  While  there  is  no  reason 
why  very  short  lengths  of  weft  should  not  have  been  so  colored 
and  small  unit  figures  thus  produced,  we  have  found  no  instance 
of  the  practice  in  the  twined  bags/  all  the  designs  being  in  the 
form  of  bands  completely  encirchng  the  bodies  of  the  sacks.  These 
bands  are  infinitely  variable,  but  all  are  made  in  the  same  way 
and  are  very  easily  analyzed.  To  understand  them  one  must  keep 
in  mind  that  in  twined  weaving  a  double  weft  is  used,  the  two 
elements  of  which  twine  both  about  each  other  and  about  the 
warps.  Each  of  the  two  elements  crosses  every  other  warp,  hence 
all  the  warps  are  crossed  (plate  27,  c,  a);  and  when  the  weft  is 
pulled  tight  the  warp  is  entirely  hidden,  each  weft  element  (in  the 
pair)  appearing  on  the  surface  of  the  fabric  over  every  other  warp. 
If  the  two  elements  are  of  the  same  color  the  resultant  line  of 
weaving  will  be  monochrome ;  if  of  different  colors,  the  line  will  be 
"  beaded,"  half  of  one  color,  half  of  the  other  (plate  27,  c,  d). 

The  bodies  of  the  bags  are  woven  of  undyed  apocynimi,  a  warm 
yellowish-brown.  The  band  designs  are  commonly  in  red,  black, 
or  a  mixture  of  the  two  (plate  28)  .^  The  simplest  are  the  single 
lines  in  sohd  black  or  sohd  red  that  encircle  the  bases  of  most 
specimens  as  shown  in  this  plate.  By  introducing  wefts  with  one 
black  and  one  natural  element,  or  one  red  and  one  natural,  beaded 
hues  are  produced  and  these  are  combined  to  make  up  the  great 
variety  of  bands  shown  in  the  illustrations.  They  are  all  narrow 
(the  widest  in  the  collection  contains  but  twenty-four  lines)  and 
no  two,  except  the  simplest  types  (such  as  plate  29,  c),  are  ever 
exactly  alike.  A  favorite  practice  was  to  make  a  band  con- 
taining both  red  and  black  as  in  b,  of  this  plate,  and  then  weave 
just  above  it  the  same  band  with  the  colors  reversed.  A  little 
study  of  the  detailed  drawings  in  the  plate  will  show  better  than 
any  amount  of  description  the  nature  of  the  patterns  and  the  ways 
in  which,  by  combining  "  beaded  "  and  solid  hues,  the  different 
vertical,  horizontal  and  obhque  effects  were  produced. 

1  Except  as  "markers"  in  painted  designs  (plate  27,  e).  See,  however,  the  woven  fabric 
(plate  26,  b),  where  squares  are  made  in  this  way. 

2  There  is  one  specimen  (A-3056)  Avith  a  band  in  brown;  this  dye  caused  the  string  to  which 
it  was  applied  to  rot  rather  badly.  Another  bag  (A-3005)  has  two  lines  each  one  made  of  one 
red  and  one  dark  blue  strand.  The  third  case  of  the  use  of  colors  other  than  the  conventional 
red  and  black,  is  the  appearance  of  a  few  yellow  lines  in  A-3470. 


72  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

The  type  of  pattern  illustrated  in  e,  is  the  only  one  which  needs 
explanation.  Normally  the  weave  of  the  bags  is  counter-clockwise, 
and  a  series  of  "  beaded  "  weft-rows  produces  an  obUque  design, 
whose  Hnes  run  downward  to  the  right  as  in  a.  By  shifting  the 
weave  to  a  clockwise  direction,  the  slant  of  the  obhque  Unes  is 
changed  and  they  run  downward  to  the  left.  The  decoration 
shown  in  e,  therefore,  was  made  by  introducing  three  clockwise 
rows,  then  six  counter-clockwise,  and  finally  six  clockwise.  There 
are  but  two  examples  of  this  style  in  the  collection. 

One  further  point  should  be  noticed:  the  weft  is  continuous, 
going  around  and  around  the  bag;  if  the  number  of  warps  were 
even,  and  if  (for  example)  a  weft-pair  of  one  black  and  one  natural 
strand  were  being  used,  the  black  strands  would,  at  each  successive 
revolution  about  the  bag,  cross  the  same  warp,  and  a  series  of 
vertical  black  bars  would  be  produced  (as  in  the  two  upper  rows  of 
f).  If  on  the  other  hand,  the  nimiber  of  warps  were  odd,  the 
emergences  of  the  black  strand  on  the  surface  would  be  offset  at 
each  revolution  and  the  resultant  design  would  be  obhque  as  in  a. 
As  both  types,  vertical  and  obUque,  often  occur  in  the  same  band, 
as  shown  in  d,  it  is  obvious  that  when  the  change  from  obhque  to 
vertical  or  vice  versa  was  to  be  made  the  weaver  had  to  employ 
some  device  to  reverse  the  order  of  emergences  of  her  alternating 
colors.    How  this  was  done  is  shown  in  plate  27,  d. 

Painting,  the  second  style  of  bag  decoration,  would  call  for 
little  notice  beyond  the  illustration  of  the  designs  themselves,  were 
it  not  for  two  very  interesting  peculiarities,  namely,  the  practice  of 
applying  the  designs  to  the  inside  as  well  as  to  the  outside  of  the 
bags,  and  the  use  of  markers  woven  in,  apparently  to  aid  in  this 
duphcation.  These  methods  were  employed  in  the  decoration  of 
the  bag  shown  in  plate  30,  f ,  and  restored  in  color  in  plate  28. 

Perhaps  the  clearest  way  of  presenting  the  technic  is  to 
describe  the  steps  by  which  we  arrived  at  an  understanding  of  it. 
We  had  examined  the  bags  a  number  of  times  and  had  always  sup- 
posed, because  the  designs  appeared  on  both  sides  of  the  fabric, 
that  they  had  been  woven  in  probably  by  means  of  the  dyed-weft 
method;  closer  scrutiny,  however,  showed  that  the  vertical  and 
oblique  edges  of  the  figures  were  perfectly  even  and  straight,  not 
finely  serrated  or  stepped  as  is  always  the  case  with  such  edges  in 
a  woven  design.    Under  a  magnifying  glass  the  edges  of  the  colored 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,   No.  2,  Plate  28 


WniTK  Dog  Cave 
Color-scheme  of  woven  bag. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  73 

areas  proved  to  be  formed  not  by  the  stitches  of  the  weave,  but  to 
run  quite  independently  of  them  as  illustrated  in  plate  27,  e.  This 
showed,  of  course,  that  the  designs  had  been  painted  on,  not  woven 
in;  but  we  were  still  at  a  loss  to  account  for  the  accuracy  with 
which  they  were  reproduced  on  the  reverse  of  the  fabric  (we  had 
pushed  pins  through  the  weave  at  various  juts  and  corners  of  the 
figures  and  had  found  that  their  points  protruded  at  exactly  corre- 
sponding places  in  the  designs  on  the  other  side) .  We  then  decided 
that  some  dye  must  have  been  used  which  struck  clear  through  the 
material  and  colored  both  surfaces.  This  explanation  satisfied  us 
until  we  chanced  to  pry  apart  some  of  the  weft  strings,  and  noticed 
that  their  under  parts  and  the  warps  were  not  colored.  This 
puzzled  us  greatly  because  we  could  not  conceive  of  a  dye  which 
would  act  on  both  surfaces  of  a  cloth  without  affecting  its  body. 
We  then  returned  to  our  pin  tests,  and  eventually  discovered  a  few 
places  where  the  designs  on  front  and  back  failed  to  correspond  by 
a  small  fraction  of  an  inch,  and  one  spot  where  there  was  an  error 
of  a  quarter  of  an  inch. 

It  was  then  clear  that  the  two  sides  had  been  painted  separately, 
but  we  could  not  understand  how  the  elaborate  patterns  had  been 
duplicated  so  exactly.  Further  examination  cleared  up  this  ques- 
tion also.  We  noticed  that  the  top  line  of  weaving  in  many  of  the 
colored  units  was  of  a  darker  shade  than  its  body;  on  picking  one 
of  these  upper  lines  out,  we  found  that  for  the  space  necessary  to 
cross  the  top  of  the  design-unit,  both  its  strands  had  been  tinted 
before  weaving  in  (weft-dyeing).  These  little  colored  lines  or 
markers  appeared,  of  course,  on  both  sides  of  the  fabric  and  must 
have  made  it  quite  easy  for  the  weaver  to  paint  identical  patterns 
on  each.  They  must  also  have  been  of  great  assistance  in  the 
original  lajdng-out  of  the  designs,  for  by  introducing  markers  at 
regular  intervals  (ascertained  by  counting  warps)  along  any  single 
line  of  weft,  regularity  of  spacing  in  a  horizontal  sense  could  be 
accomphshed;  by  counting  weft  hnes  as  they  were  woven  upward 
from  the  one  last  marked  and  then  marking  a  new  weft,  sym- 
metrical vertical  spacing  could  be  insured  (see  plate  27,  e;  the 
shade  of  the  markers  is  there  exaggerated) . 

One  further  point :  we  experimented  with  water-color  paints  on 
bits  of  the  bag  fabric  and  found  that  it  takes  them  without  any 
blotting  or  running;  furthermore  the  moisture  in  the  paint  (carry- 


74  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

ing  very  little  of  the  color  itself)  quickly  soaks  through  and  shows 
on  the  reverse  side  in  sharply  defined  wet  areas  of  exactly  the  same 
shape  as  the  painted  figures.  By  painting  over  these  moist  areas 
the  decorator  was  still  further  aided  in  the  accuracy  of  the  dupli- 
cation of  the  design. 

This  painstaking  reproduction  was  accomplished  on  nearly  all 
the  painted  bags  in  the  collection;  there  are  but  few  specimens 
decorated  on  one  side  only.  Its  purpose  is  not  obvious,  for  while 
the  bags  are  reversible,  the  weave  being  the  same  within  and  with- 
out, specimens  showing  long  use  are  much  more  worn  on  one  side 
than  on  the  other.  It  seems,  therefore,  that  the  patterns  on  the 
inside  were  normally  invisible.  That  they  were  so  meticulously 
carried  out  may  be  due  to  the  strong  craving  for  perfection  and 
love  for  detail  possessed  by  so  many  primitive  craftsmen;  or  it 
may  have  resulted  from  an  equally  common  psychological  trait, 
namely  that  of  wishing  to  carry  over  into  a  new  technic  the  quali- 
ties of  an  older  one.  To  be  explicit:  it  is  hkely  that  basket-mak- 
ing was  practised  by  these  people  before  they  learned  to  weave  this 
specialized  type  of  bag;  the  painted  patterns  under  discussion  are 
also  found  woven  in  the  baskets  (compare  plate  24  with  plates  26 
and  28) ;  hence  it  may  be  that  when  painting  such  decorations,  it 
was  thought  proper  that  they  should  appear  on  both  sides  of  the 
fabric  as  in  baskets. 

Fur  cloth.  This  was  one  of  the  most  important  textile  products 
of  the  Basket-makers.  Robes  of  fur  cloth  were  presumably  the 
usual  overgarment  for  cold  weather,  were  doubtless  used  for  sleep- 
ing blankets,  and  were  invariably  wrapped  about  the  dead  previ- 
ous to  burial;  young  babies  were  provided  with  specially  shaped 
fur  cloth  coverings  (plate  4,  b,  f). 

The  strings  that  compose  the  body  of  the  fabric  were  variously 
prepared.  The  commonest  method  was  to  wrap  a  yucca  cord  with 
narrow  strips  of  the  hide  of  small  animals  applied  raw  and  with  the 
fur  on;  deer  and  mountain-sheep  skins,  when  used,  were  generally 
dressed.  The  strips  were  applied  spirally,  the  end  of  one  piece 
holding  down  the  beginning  of  the  next.  The  tight  wrapping  of 
the  hide  caused  the  hair  to  stand  out  in  all  directions,  thus  giving 
the  finished  string  the  appearance  of  a  greatly  magnified  pipe- 
cleaner.  Another  way  of  making  the  string  was  to  catch  tufts  of 
long,  woolly  animal  hair  (dog  or  buffalo)  detached  from  the  hide, 


Peabody  Museum  Papers  Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  29 


Twined  weaving;  designs  produced  by  different  manipulations  of  the  weft-strands. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  75 

through  the  twists  of  a  two-ply  cord;  the  same  was  also  done  with 
small  patches  of  skin  from  the  heavily  furred  bottoms  of  rabbits' 
feet.  Strips  of  tough  skin  with  the  hair  on  were  sometimes  twisted 
upon  themselves  instead  of  being  wound  about  a  cord. 

The  weaving  process  was  very  simple;  the  prepared  string  was 
wound  about  some  sort  of  frame,  or  perhaps  around  a  pair  of  long 
pegs  driven  in  the  ground.  The  winding  was  done  in  such  a  way 
as  to  lay  each  succeeding  turn  of  the  string  parallel  to  and  close 
against  the  preceding  one.  When  the  desired  size  was  reached, 
the  strings  were  fastened  together  by  twined  rows  of  yucca  cord; 
finally,  the  frame  was  removed.  To  illustrate  the  nature  of  the 
selvages,  a  corner  of  one  of  these  fabrics  is  shown  in  figure  11,  a. 
The  upper  edge  is  composed  of  the  looped  turns  of  the  single  long 
fur-string  which  forms  the  body  of  the  cloth.  On  the  lateral 
selvage  may  be  seen  the  method  of  bringing  the  continuous  twin- 
ing cords  down  the  edge  for  a  new  crossing. 

Due  to  the  wide  spacing  of  the  rows  of  twining  cord,  the  texture 
of  fur  cloth  is  very  loose.  The  component  string  is,  however,  so 
fluffy  and  hangs  so  evenly  between  the  twined  cross-rows,  that  the 
finished  blanket  has  a  very  smooth  surface;  it  is  also  softer  and 
more  flexible  than  the  best  dressed  hide.  Pleasing  blends  of  color 
were  produced  by  mixing  different  kinds  of  fur;  ornamental  edg- 
ings and  tassels  were  sometimes  made  by  using  bits  of  string 
wrapped  with  strips  of  downy  bird  skin;  or  strings  between  the 
plies  of  which  were  held  pieces  of  rabbit  foot  fur,  colored  red. 

Narrow  Fabrics.  Carrying  bands  were  employed  for  the  trans- 
portation of  heavy  loads.  We  have  found  them  attached  to  the 
large  pannier  baskets  (plate  23,  k,  1),  and  one  accompanied  the 
bulky  bundle  containing  a  hunting  net  discovered  in  White  Dog 
Cave.  It  is  probable  that  they  were  also  used  with  cradles.  They 
are  long  woven  straps  with  loops  at  either  end.  Although  individ- 
ual specimens  differ  from  each  other  in  dimensions  and  in  the 
details  of  weave  and  ornamentation,  most  of  them  are  fundamen- 
tally aUke  in  that  they  are  made  of  a  long  cord  looped  into  a  flat 
skein  and  held  together  by  a  single  binder,  which  runs  over  and 
under,  back  and  forth  across  it.  The  binder  terminates  just  before 
reaching  the  ends,  thus  leaving  two  loops  for  the  attachment  of 
the  strap  to  the  burden  (see  the  diagrammatic  drawing,  plate  27, 
f ) .    Ornamental  patterns  are  sometimes  introduced  by  making  the 


76  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

skein  of  strings  of  contrasting  colors,  or  by  using  a  binder  of  a  color 
different  from  the  rest  of  the  fabric. 

One  of  the  straps  found  with  a  pannier  basket  (plate  23,  k)  is 
made  of  a  single  heavy  yucca  fiber  string  looped  on  itself  twelve 
times  to  form  twenty-four  parallel  elements ;  the  binder  is  also  of 
yucca.  The  length  of  the  specimen  is  22  inches,  width  1  ^  inches. 
The  second  pannier  strap  is  longer,  32  inches,  but  of  the  same  width. 
It  is  composed  of  yellowish  fiber  and  black  human  hair  strings, 
alternated  to  produce  a  simple  design ;  the  binder  is  yucca.  There 
are  also  several  fragmentary  bands  of  the  same  weave,  in  one  of 
which  (A-3495)  the  one  remaining  loop  is  tightly  wound  with  fine 
string. 

The  band  found  with  the  rabbit  net  (plate  31,  c)  is  constructed 
on  the  same  basic  principle,  but  its  binder,  instead  of  being  cov- 
ered by  the  longitudinal  strings,  forms  the  surface  of  the  fabric. 
In  making  this  strap,  a  single  stout  yucca  cord  was  looped  four 
times,  producing  eight  parallel  strings;  the  binder  is  woven  back 
and  forth  over  and  under  these;  it  is  a  heavy  cord  twisted  of  a 
mixture  of  dog  and  buffalo  hair,  and  is  so  fluffy  and  is  beaten  up 
so  tightly  that  the  underlying  yucca  strings  are  entirely  concealed 
except  at  the  ends,  where  they  protrude  to  form  short  loops  for  the 
attachment  of  tie-cords.  The  specimen  is  22  inches  long  and  2^ 
inches  wide. 

Tape.  Very  narrow  flat  fabrics  were  made  on  the  same  general 
principle  as  the  coarser  carrying-straps,  but  the  materials  are  finer 
and  the  weave  more  elaborate.  They  are  rare,  our  only  new  ex- 
ample being  a  short  length  of  tape  ts  of  an  inch  wide  which  was 
found  attached,  apparently  as  a  tie-string,  to  a  large  fur  cloth  robe 
enveloping  mummy  1,  Cist  24,  White  Dog  Cave.  It  has  parallel 
longitudinal  elements  and  a  single  binder;  the  parallel  strings  are 
twenty-eight  in  number,  arranged  in  fourteen  pairs  which  twine 
about  the  successive  crossings  of  the  binder  instead  of  merely  pass- 
ing over  and  under  them  as  in  the  carrying-straps.  The  design, 
produced  by  mixing  brown  and  white  strands,  is  very  similar  to 
that  of  a  tape  found  in  Cave  1,  1915.  In  number  of  elements  and 
in  weave  the  two  specimens  are  identical.^ 

Rigid  hands.  We  have  only  a  single  specimen  of  this  type,  but 
there  is  a  very  similar  one  from  Grand  Gulch  in  the  American 

1  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  p.  173  and  figure  82. 


Peabodt  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  30 


Twined-woven  bags.     All  from  White  Dog  Cave  with  the  exception  of  d, 
which  is  from  Cave  6.     (About  |.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  77 

Museum  of  Natural  History  in  New  York.  Our  example  (White 
Dog  Cave,  A-3452)  is  composed  of  thirty  slim,  peeled  willow  twigs 
laid  side  by  side  to  form  a  flat  band  4|  inches  wide  and  held  to- 
gether by  a  tight,  twilled  over-two-under-two  weave  of  fine  string. 
The  upper  part  of  the  cross-weaving  is  in  human  hair  string,  the 
lower  of  apocyniun.  The  object  is  9^  inches  long,  but  is  broken 
off  at  both  ends  so  that  we  cannot  even  guess  at  its  original  length, 
nor  at  the  way  in  which  it  was  finished. 

NETTING  AND  CORDAGE 

Coiled  Netting.^  A  bag  from  White  Dog  Cave  is  our  best  ex- 
ample of  this  technic.  It  is  a  little  apocynum  string  sack,  6 
inches  long,  with  rounded  body  and  constricted  neck.  The  stitch 
is  very  even  and  regular  (plate  25,  d);  there  are  twelve  coils  to 
the  inch  and  each  coil  has  nine  loops  to  the  inch.  The  entire 
bottom  of  the  bag  is  red;  the  neck  is  in  natural  color,  encircled  by 
narrow  bands  of  red  and  brown.  As  there  is  no  sign  that  new 
strings  were  introduced  to  make  the  changes  in  color,  it  seems 
probable  that  the  entire  fabric  is  made  from  a  single  long  strand, 
which  was  stained  or  rubbed  with  pigment  for  the  proper  length 
whenever  it  was  desired  to  produce  a  colored  band. 

Rabbit  Net.  This  remarkable  specimen,  which,  according  to 
Dr.  J.  W.  Fewkes,  is  probably  the  largest  piece  of  ancient  textile 
so  far  recovered  in  North  America,  is  from  White  Dog  Cave.  When 
found  it  was  rolled  upon  itself,  partly  wrapped  in  bunches  of  fiber, 
and  tied  into  a  neat  bundle  with  yucca  leaves.  Undone  and  spread 
out,  it  proved  to  be  a  net  240  feet  long,  3  feet  8  inches  wide,  and 
with  meshes  2^  inches  square.  It  is  in  perfect  condition  and,  ex- 
cept for  a  single  strand  which  has  at  some  time  been  burned 
through  by  a  stray  spark,  is  as  firm  and  strong  as  the  day  it  was 
made.  The  material  is  a  two-ply  twine  of  Indian  hemp  (Apocynum 
cannahinum) ,  very  firm  and  evenly  twisted  and  about  -^  of  an  inch 
in  diameter.  An  estimate  of  the  amount  of  string  composing  the 
net  gives  approximately  19,581  feet,  or  very  nearly  3|  miles.  Ex- 
tending the  length  of  the  long  edges  and  across  the  ends  is  a  mar- 
ginal cord,  of  stouter  two-ply  yucca  string;  the  method  of  attach- 
ing this  can  be  seen  in  plate  31.    The  mesh-knot  is  one  that  is 

1  This  term  has  been  suggested  by  Mr.  Willoughby  as  a  more  appropriate  one  than  Mason's 
"coil  without  foundation";  for  a  diagram  of  the  weave,  see  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  figure  45. 


78  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

used  almost  universally.  The  entire  net  is  of  the  same  mesh,  but 
there  are  two  sections,  one  9  and  the  other  6  feet  long,  in  which 
human  hair  has  been  used  with  the  apocynum  fiber,  one  strand  of 
hair  twisted  with  one  of  fiber. ^  These  sections  are  naturally  of  a 
darker  color  than  the  rest  of  the  specimen.  Strung  on  the  cord  of 
one  of  the  meshes  is  a  single  olivella  shell  bead,  another  bears  two 
stone  beads;  still  another  has  attached  to  it  a  few  downy  feathers 
which  may  be  seen  in  the  plate;  on  a  fourth  is  a  small  pink  feather, 
and  at  a  fifth  place  there  is  a  paw  of  some  small  animal  tied  on 
with  sinew. 

Attached  to  the  net  when  found  was  a  carrying-strap  of  coarse 
dog  or  buffalo  fur-string.  Such  a  strap  was  no  doubt  needed  for 
transporting  the  net,  as  the  whole  bundle  weighs  over  twenty-eight 
pounds.  The  bunches  of  fiber  that  partly  enclosed  the  rolled  up 
net  are  of  Indian  hemp  (the  same  material  in  its  raw  state  as  the 
twine) ;  it  is  stripped  up  and  tied  in  hanks  in  much  the  same  manner 
as  are  the  trade  bundles  of  Indian  hemp  in  the  Peabody  Museum 
collected  from  the  Thompson  Indians. 

The  method  of  using  nets  such  as  this  is  made  clear  by  the 
following  quotation  from  Powell :  ^ 

They  (the  Paiute)  get  many  rabbits  sometimes  with  arrows  sometimes  with 
nets.  They  make  a  net  of  twine,  made  of  the  fibers  of  a  native  flax.  Some- 
times this  is  made  a  hundred  yards  in  length,  and  is  placed  in  a  half-circular 
position,  with  wings  of  sage  brush.  They  have  a  circle  hunt,  and  drive  great 
numbers  of  rabbits  into  the  snare,  where  they  are  shot  with  arrows. 

It  has  occurred  to  us  that  the  hair  string  sections,  being  darker 
than  the  rest,  might  have  been  intended  to  lure  the  quarry  toward 
them,  for,  to  a  frightened  animal  they  might  appear  to  be  openings. 
Of  interest  because  of  its  close  similarity  to  the  present  specimen 
is  a  rabbit  net  in  the  Peabody  Museum  that  was  collected  from  the 
Paiutes  about  1870  by  Dr.  Edward  Palmer.  Its  length  is  124  feet, 
width  4  feet.  The  mesh  is  practically  the  same,  and  the  material  is 
also  apocynum  fiber ;  furthermore,  there  are  sections  which  appear 
darker  than  the  rest  of  the  body,  though  no  himian  hair  string  is 
used.  This  net  is  provided  with  a  mmaber  of  light  crotched  sticks 
which  were  used  to  hold  it  upright  when  set.    No  such  sticks  were 

1  From  Cave  10  came  a  fragment  of  another  net  of  the  same  weave  and  mesh  size;   this 
piece  is  also  made  of  human  hair  and  apocynum  string. 
«  1875,  p.  127. 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  31 


White  Dog  Cave 

a,  Umbilical  pad;  b,  Gourd  vessel;  c,  Rabbit-net,  carrying-strap  and  bunch  of  fiber 

found  with  the  net.     (About  1/10.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  79 

found  with  the  specimen  from  White  Dog  Cave.  In  the  collection 
from  the  caves  of  Coahuila,  northern  Mexico,  is  a  fragment  of 
netting  similar  to  the  above.  Heye  records  a  fragment  of  yucca 
rabbit  net  from  a  Diegueno  cache  pot.^ 

Snares.  The  best  preserved  of  the  three  specimens  of  snares 
found  in  Cave  6,  measures  8  feet  6  inches  in  length  and  is  made 
from  twelve  strands  of  twisted  yucca  fiber,  braided  into  a  rope 
^  of  an  inch  square.  At  one  end  is  a  loosely  tied  knot,  at  the 
other  a  loop,  2  inches  in  length.  This  loop  is  not  spUced  or  seized 
to  the  body  of  the  rope,  but  is  an  integral  part  of  it  (plate  32, 
a).  To  accompUsh  this,  a  piece  7  inches  in  length  was  first  braided 
with  six  strands,  then  doubled  to  make  the  loop,  and  the  twelve 
strands  thus  brought  together  were  braided  to  form  the  rope  itself. 

A  second  specimen  made  of  the  same  material  and  in  the  same 
way  measures  7  feet,  4  inches  in  length. 

The  third  snare  though  made  in  the  same  way  as  the  other  two, 
is  of  a  different  material,  probably  apocynum  fiber.  The  strands 
are  more  evenly  twisted  and  the  braiding  so  done  as  to  give  the 
finished  rope  a  very  smooth  appearance.  It  is  also  more  flexible 
than  the  others,  and  shows  signs  of  considerable  use.  It  was 
broken  or  cut  into  three  sections  when  found.  Attached  to  the 
loop  of  the  noose  is  a  fragment  of  coarse  netting  made  of  soft  fiber 
string.  Fastened  to  the  netting  at  several  points  is  a  thread-Hke 
fiber  string. 

Tied  to  the  noose  of  each  of  the  first  two  specimens  described  is 
a  short  piece  of  twine,  and  a  bit  of  netting  made  of  similar  twine 
was  found  loose  in  the  cache.  Attached  to  one  end  of  this  netting 
are  four  beads  and  a  little  pendant  of  a  material  resembUng  opal, 
very  brilliant  in  the  proper  Ught.  Of  the  beads,  the  one  next  to 
the  pendant  is  of  white  stone  and  measures  J  of  an  inch  in  diameter, 
and  T6  of  an  inch  thick.  It  is  very  symmetrical.  Another  white 
bead  of  the  same  material  is  a  thin  disk.  The  third  and  foiurth 
are  discoidal  in  shape  and  I  of  an  inch  in  diameter;  one  is  made 
of  a  green  stone,  the  other  of  shell,  Spondylus  calcifer. 

The  use  of  snares  of  this  kind  is  not  confined  to  any  one  region, 
but  appears  to  have  been  general  where  game,  such  as  deer,  ante- 
lope, or  mountain-sheep,  was  found.  The  Pomo  Indians  employ  a 
similar  contrivance,  the  noose,  when  set,  filled  with  coarse  netting. 

1  1919,  p.  45. 


80  .  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

Lumholtz  describes  and  figures  a  snare  used  by  the  Huichol  Indians 
of  central  Mexico,  which  is  set  with  a  netting  across  the  noose 
opening.  1  Waterman  illustrates  a  Yahi  deer  snare  of  the  same 
type  as  those  under  discussion,  but  without  the  netting.^  It  is 
probable  that  the  Cliff-dwellers  also  used  snares,  as  one  of  a  series 
of  pictographs  found  near  Ruin  5  by  the  1914  expedition  depicts 
a  man  in  the  act  of  throwing  a  noose  over  the  head  of  a  mountain- 
sheep.  ^ 

The  netting  with  which  the  noose  was  filled  no  doubt  made  the 
trap  more  effective,  as  it  could  be  set  to  cover  a  much  wider  space 
in  the  runway.  The  animal  in  pushing  its  way  through  the  net 
would  draw  the  noose  tight  about  its  neck. 

The  method  of  braiding  a  rope  square  is  also  widespread  and  has 
survived  into  modern  times  as  in  Navajo  leather  riatos.  Examples 
are  found  principally  in  regions  where  the  lariat  is  used,  though  the 
Northwest  Coast  tribes  braid  ropes  in  this  way  for  their  harpoons 
and  other  fishing  devices,  as  do  the  Mohave  for  neck  strings. 

A  running  noose  probably  designed  for  a  snare  is  the  clever 
little  device  illustrated  in  plate  32,  b.  The  braided  loop  is  replaced 
by  a  short  section  of  hollow  bone,  neatly  cut  and  seized  to  one  end 
of  the  string  with  sinew.    This  makes  a  very  free-running  noose. 

OBJECTS  OF  WOOD 

Atlatl  or  Spear-thrower.  The  atlatl  is  a  device  which  serves  to 
add  greater  length,  and  therefore,  greater  propulsive  force  to  the 
arm  of  the  thrower  in  launching  a  spear  or  dart.  It  consists  of  a 
long,  thin  stick  with  a  grip  for  the  hand  at  one  end,  and  a  hook- 
like spur  to  engage  the  butt  of  the  spear  at  the  other.  In  throw- 
ing, the  butt  of  the  spear  was  placed  against  the  spur  at  the  end  of 
the  atlatl;  its  shaft  lay  flat  along  the  atlatl  with  its  point  project- 
ing in  front  of  the  user's  hand;  it  was  held  in  this  position,  prob- 
ably near  its  middle,  by  the  second  (fore)  and  third  fingers  which 
passed  through  the  loops  of  the  atlatl  on  the  sides  of  the  grip.  The 
fourth  and  fifth  fingers  were  clenched  upon  the  atlatl  grip  below 
the  loops,  holding  it  firmly  against  the  palm  and  heel  of  the  hand. 
The  base  of  the  thumb  served  to  solidify  this  grip  on  the  atlatl, 

1  Lumholtz,  1903,  Vol.  II,  p.  41. 

2  Waterman,  1918,  plate  13. 

»  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  plate  93,  b. 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VITI,  No.  2,  Plate  32 


b,  Snares  showing  details;  c,  d,  e,  Bunches  of  human  hair;  f,  g,  Skin  1 
b,  c,  d,  f,  g,  White  Dog  Cave;  a,  Cave  6;  e,  Cave  14.     (About  i.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  81 

and  the  thumb  proper  aided  to  steady  the  spear  in  its  resting 
place  between  and  upon  the  second  and  third  fingers.^ 

The  atlatls  illustrated  in  the  plate  were  all  found  with  burials  in 
White  Dog  Cave.  The  finest  of  these,  plate  33,  b,  c,  had  been 
broken  nearly  in  two  before  it  was  placed  in  the  cist.  It  is  made  of 
oak,  carefully  worked  down  and  almost  polished.  The  length  over 
all  is  25  inches.  The  front  or  spur  side  is  nearly  flat,  except  for  the 
short  distance  between  the  spur  and  the  distal  end,  where  the 
middle  is  a  little  higher  than  the  rest  of  the  surface.  The  sides  are 
rounded  and  the  back  is  sUghtly  convex.  The  distal  end  termi- 
nates in  a  blunt  point.  The  spur  is  set  at  the  head  of  a  short  deep 
groove,  the  bottom  and  sides  of  which  show  plainly  the  marks  of 
the  sharp  stone  tool  used  in  excavating  it.  At  3^  inches  from  the 
rounded  proximal  or  hand  end  the  two  sides  of  the  stick  have 
broad  notches;  these  notches  lie  between  the  finger-loops.  The 
latter  are  made  of  a  single  strip  of  heavy  dressed  hide  folded 
lengthwise.  Through  the  middle  of  this  folded  piece  there  is  cut 
a  longitudinal  slit  just  large  enough  to  allow  it  to  be  pushed  up 
over  the  atlatl  shaft  to  its  proper  position  at  the  lower  end  of  the 
side  grooves.  The  two  flaps  are  brought  forward  and  down  until 
they  touch  the  stick  at  the  upper  end  of  these  grooves,  where 
they  are  securely  fastened  with  strong  sinew  sewed  through  them, 
and  then  wrapped  around  the  shaft.  On  the  back  of  the  atlatl 
there  is  a  thong  which  is  looped  through  the  slit  in  the  grip,  brought 
forward  and  seized  to  the  shaft;  this  served  to  hold  the  strip  in 
place  and  to  keep  the  finger  loops  properly  extended. 

Tightly  lashed  to  the  back  of  the  atlatl,  as  shown  in  the  drawing, 
are  three  beautifully  worked  greenish  stones  of  elongated  loaf- 
shape,  flat  where  they  lie  against  the  wood,  their  upper  sides 
sharply  convex.  All  three  are  fashioned  from  a  substance  identi- 
fied by  Professor  J.  B.Wood  worth  as  a  fossihzed  mammahan  tooth. ^ 
The  entire  shaft,  from  the  binding  which  holds  the  upper  stone  to 
the  finger-loop  attachments,  is  coated  with  a  thin  layer  of  resinous 
gum,  apphed  before  the  stones  were  tied  on,  but  afterwards  re- 
newed on  the  front  side,  where  it  covers  the  seizing  of  the  middle 
one. 

1  See  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  figure  87. 

*  An  unworked  fragment  of  the  same  material  was  found  in  a  bag  in  Cave  6;  see  plate 
44,  b. 


82  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

The  second  atlatl  (plate  33,  f)  is  somewhat  less  well-preserved, 
its  oak  shaft  being  checked  and  a  little  shrunken,  and  the  finger- 
loops  dried  stiff.  The  lateral  curve  of  the  stick  is  probably  due  to 
warping.  The  total  length  is  23 1  inches.  The  spur  is  slimmer  and 
sharper  than  that  of  the  specimen  just  described;  and  the  groove, 
instead  of  being  deep  and  short,  is  shallow  and  runs  nearly  5 
inches  down  the  shaft.  The  finger-loops  are  straddled  as  before, 
over  a  pair  of  broad  notches  in  the  side  of  the  stick;  they  are  made 
by  folding  a  buckskin  strip,  slitting  it  in  the  middle,  and  drawing 
it  over  the  shaft,  to  which  the  ends  are  attached  by  a  cross-binding 
and  an  over-wrapping  of  sinew.  The  slit  middle  part  is  kept  from 
slipping  backward  by  an  annular  seizing.  Ten  inches  from  the 
butt  there  may  be  seen  on  the  front  (illustrated)  side  of  the  weapon 
the  print  of  a  former  ligature;  on  the  back  there  is  a  light  colored 
oval  mark  corresponding  exactly  in  size  and  shape  to  the  flat  base 
of  a  chipped  stone  (plate  35,  f)  found  loose  in  the  same  cist.  These 
traces  indicate,  of  course,  that  the  stone  was  once  attached  to  the 
back  of  the  weapon. 

The  next  atlatl  to  be  considered  is  a  fragmentary  one,  shown  in 
plate  33,  d.  The  part  recovered  is  a  section  of  the  shaft  7|  inches 
long  extending  forward  from  the  former  seat  of  the  finger-loops. 
To  the  back  is  attached  an  elaborate  series  of  "  weights."  The 
specimen  was  found,  done  up  with  other  objects,  in  a  skin  container 
that  was  tucked  between  the  outer  coverings  and  the  fur  cloth 
robe  of  mummy  2,  Cist  24.  Both  ends  are  bruised  and  rounded, 
indicating  that  the  piece  was  used  in  some  way,  perhaps  as  a  cere- 
monial object  or  as  a  fetish,  for  a  long  time  after  the  original 
weapon  was  broken. 

In  size  and  shape  the  fragment  differs  little  from  corresponding 
parts  of  the  atlatls  described  above.  The  side  grooves  under  the 
missing  finger-loops  are  shallower;  and  there  are  a  pair  of  notches 
just  forward  of  these,  which  once  held  the  fastenings  of  the  front 
ends  of  the  loops.  Of  the  attached  ''  weights,"  the  lowest  is  a 
small  triangular  chipped  point.  If  inches  long  and  |  of  an  inch  wide; 
its  lower  side  is  flat,  so  that  it  fits  snugly  against  the  stick,  the 
upper  side  is  somewhat  rounded.  The  sinew  wrappings  which 
hold  it  pass  about  the  shallow  finger  notches.  Two  and  three- 
quarters  inches  above  the  chipped  point  there  is  a  flat  oval  piece  of 
white  limestone,  If  inches  long,  ^  inch  wide,  and  |  of  an  inch  thick; 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  33 


White  Dog  Cave 
Atlatls  or  dart-throwers.     (About  J.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  83 

it  is  very  neatly  made  and  is  well  polished.  Almost  touching  this 
is  a  pohshed,  loaf-shaped  piece  of  dark  green  satin  spar,  2  inches 
long.  Pushed  xmder  the  sinew  binding  that  holds  the  latter  in 
place  is  a  section,  1  inch  long,  broken  from  a  round  skewer-hke 
bone  object,  perhaps  from  a  pin  such  as  was  used  in  making  hair 
ornaments  (plate  18,  b).  A  dark,  pitchy  stain  covers  that  portion 
of  the  shaft  to  which  the  objects  just  described  are  attached,  and 
is  smeared  over  the  sinew  wrappings  of  the  two  forward  ones. 
Adhering  to  the  stick  when  found  were  some  downy  feathers,  but 
it  is  not  certain  that  they  had  not  become  stuck  to  it  accidentally. 

The  two  remaining  figures  of  the  plate  show  pieces  of  broken 
atlatls.  The  butt  fragment  has  two  narrow  notches  on  one  side 
below  the  finger-grooves,  a  feature  not  observed  in  any  other 
specimen.  Ligature  prints  of  the  finger-loop  attachments,  and 
also  of  a  ''  weight  "  binding  may  be  seen.  The  broken  distal  end 
is  the  heaviest  and  broadest  one  in  the  collection;  it  measures 
If  inches  across;  the  groove  is  2|  inches  long. 

Darts.  The  darts  cast  with  the  aid  of  the  atlatl  consisted  nor- 
mally of  two  parts:  a  long  main-shaft,  feathered  at  the  proximal 
or  butt  end;  and  a  short  foreshaft  set  into  the  tip  or  distal  end 
of  the  main-shaft.  Heretofore  there  has  been  Uttle  accurate 
knowledge  as  to  the  main-shafts,  the  material  recovered  having 
been  very  fragmentary.  The  expedition  of  1916,  however,  yielded 
three  nearly  perfect  specimens,  as  well  as  a  number  of  less  com- 
plete ones,  from  which  additional  details  can  be  learned.  These 
were  all  found  with  burials,  and  had,  on  accoimt  of  their  length, 
been  broken  before  being  placed  in  the  cists. 

The  three  entire  shafts  referred  to  above  were  in  halves  when 
discovered;  mended  they  measure  exclusive  of  foreshafts,  52^,  55, 
and  55 1  inches  long.  The  tips  or  distal  ends  are  the  heaviest  parts 
averaging  |  inch  in  thickness;  from  this  maximum  diameter  there 
is  a  gradual  taper  to  the  butts  or  proximal  ends,  which  average  | 
of  an  inch  through.  They  are  made  of  straight,  slender  branches  of 
some  light  wood  with  a  small  pithy  heart;  the  bark  has  been  care- 
fully removed,  the  twigs  trimmed  close,  and  in  some  cases  the 
knots  have  been  further  eliminated  by  rubbing.  The  large  ends 
of  some  shafts  have  a  very  slight  terminal  taper  (plate  34,  h),  and 
the  edges  of  the  butts  are  rounded.    One  specimen  has  marks  on 


84  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

its  surface  such  as  might  have  been  caused  by  using  a  shaft - 
straightener  of  the  wrench  type.^ 

In  the  distal  or  large  end  of  the  shaft  is  drilled  a  cone-shaped 
hole  YE  of  an  inch  in  diameter  at  the  mouth  and  1  inch  to  1  ^  inches 
in  depth;  into  this  socket  was  fitted  the  butt  of  the  foreshaft  as  in  j. 
In  order  to  prevent  the  socket  from  being  split  open  when  the  fore- 
shaft  was  driven  back  into  it  on  impact,  it  is  reenforced  by  outer 
ferrule-like  wrappings  of  stout  flat  sinew  as  shown  in  the  drawing. 
The  proximal  or  butt  end  of  the  main-shaft  is  provided  with  a 
shallow  cup,  b,  to  engage  the  spur  of  the  throwing  stick,  and  here 
again  there  is  sometimes  applied  a  band  of  sinew  to  prevent 
spHtting. 

The  method  of  winging  the  shafts  can  be  accurately  recon- 
structed from  the  material  at  hand.  As  shown  in  a,  b,  three 
feathers  possibly  somewhat  trimmed,  but  with  unsplit  quills,  were 
laid  along  the  shaft  and  seized  to  it  at  both  ends  with  flat  sinew.^ 
The  average  length  of  the  feathers  on  five  specimens  is  7^  inches; 
the  average  distance  from  the  end  of  the  feathering  to  the  butt  is 
4^  inches.  The  feathers  themselves  were  prepared  for  attachment 
as  follows:  the  end  of  the  quill  was  cut  off  and  into  its  hollow 
body  there  was  introduced  a  tight  fitting  plug,  1  inch  to  1^  inches 
long,  either  of  wood  or  of  the  sharp,  hard  tip  of  a  yucca  leaf.  The 
end  of  the  quill  was  further  solidified  by  wrapping  it  about  with 
sinew.  Both  these  features  are  illustrated  in  b.^  Heavy  flat 
seizing  of  sinew  secures  the  thus  prepared  lower  end  of  the  feather 
to  the  shaft;  the  light  tip  end  has  no  extra  strengthening  and  is 
merely  boimd  to  the  shaft  with  a  few  turns  of  thin  sinew.  The 
purpose  of  this  careful  plugging  and  binding  of  the  quill  was  un- 
doubtedly to  render  it  so  firm  and  solid  that  it  could  be  tightly 
bound  to  the  shaft  at  exactly  the  correct  angle;  an  unplugged 
quill  would  have  been  crushed  by  the  hgatures,  and  the  feather 

1  Though  not  uncommon  in  cUff-dwelUngs,  we  have  found  no  such  implement  among  Basket- 
maker  remains.  The  CUff-dweller  wrenches  are  made  of  mountain-sheep  horn,  are  9  to  10  inches 
long,  and  have  a  hole,  or  a  series  of  holes  of  different  sizes,  in  one  end;  through  these  the  shaft 
was  drawn  and  then  straightened  by  leverage  on  the  other  end  (see  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919, 
plate  46,  a,  e).    See  also  Hough,  1919,  plate  46,  figure  4. 

2  We  are  now  able  to  rectify  an  error  in  our  previous  report.  In  our  restoration  of  the  feather- 
ing of  atlatl  darts  there  given  (figure  89)  we  were  misled  by  the  presence  of  some  extra  seizing 
bands  not  really  connected  with  the  feathering,  and  postulated  a  triple  attachment  like  that  on 
lower  Yukon  shafts.    This  is  incorrect. 

*  Although  we  have  not  seen  the  specimens,  we  think  it  likely  that  the  loose  ends  of  cords 
bound  under  the  seizing  of  the  feathers  on  darts  described  by  Pepper  (1905,  p.  121)  represent 
the  remains  of  feather-butt  reinforcements  similar  to  those  just  described. 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  34 


White  Dog  Cave 

a,  b,  d,  Lower  portion  of  darts  showing  method  of  feathering;  c,  Point  of  dart;  e,  Upper 
portion  of  dart  showing  bunt-head;  h,  Upper  portion  of  shaft  showing  socket  for  foreshaft; 
f,  g,  i,  Foreshafts  with  chipped  stone  points;  j,  Foreshaft  in  position,  and  upper  portion  of 

shaft.     (About  J.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  85 

would  not  have  held  rigidly  to  its  intended  position.  The  arrange- 
ment just  described  is,  as  far  as  we  know,  unique  in  shaft  feather- 
ing, but  is  found  in  the  feather  hair  ornaments  of  the  Mohave 
(P.  M.  catalogue  number  10091). 

So  little  of  the  pile  of  the  feathers  has  resisted  decay  and  the 
ravages  of  insects  that  it  is  impossible  to  identify  the  species  of 
birds  from  which  they  were  obtained.  Plumes  of  corresponding 
length  and  weight,  tied  into  bundles  and  perhaps  intended  for  the 
winging  of  darts,  were  found  in  Cave  1,  Kinboko,  in  1915  (Kidder- 
Guernsey  1919,  plate  81;  a,  b);  these  belonged  to  Hutchin's  (?) 
wild  goose  (Branta  canadensis  hutchinsi)  and  the  western  red-tailed 
hawk  (Buteo  borealis  calurus), 

A  non-functional  feature  of  the  main-shafts  remains  to  be  de- 
scribed, namely,  decoration.  All  the  darts  are  painted  or  stained 
on  the  shaftment  under  the  feathering,  and  also  for  a  short  dis- 
tance back  from  the  socket  end;  some,  we  judge  from  fragments, 
were  colored  their  entire  length.  The  most  elaborately  decorated 
shaftment  (plate  34,  a)  is  painted  black  with  a  spiral  line  of  red; 
a  second  (d)  was  painted  black  over  a  temporary  wrapping,  which 
when  removed  left  a  spiral  ornament  in  the  Ught  natural  color  of 
the  wood.  Another,  on  which  the  paint  shows  but  faintly,  seems 
to  bear  foiu*  broad  longitudinal  Unes  separated  from  each  other  by 
narrow  stripes  of  natural  surface.  Most  of  the  socket  ends  were 
painted  black  as  shown  in  h,  two,  however,  are  red;  and  one 
socket  end  25  inches  long  is  stained  black  for  15  inches,  thence  to 
the  break  it  is  hght  red. 

In  the  collection  are  a  few  broken  main-shafts  that  have  been 
put  to  secondary  uses.  The  flint-flaker  shown  in  figure  15,  b,  c,  is 
moimted  on  such  a  fragment;  another  piece,  from  the  butt-end 
of  a  dart,  was  whittled  to  a  sharp  point  and  served  as  a  skewer-like 
pin  for  fastening  together  the  wrappings  of  a  mummy. 

Foreshafts,  complete  with  points,  are  represented  by  five  perfect 
specimens  from  White  Dog  Cave.  All  of  these  are  tapered  at  one 
end  to  fit  into  the  socket  of  the  spear  shaft,  and  are  notched  at 
the  other  to  provide  a  seat  for  the  stone  tip.  The  one  shown 
in  i,  plate  34,  formed  part  of  a  bundle  resting  in  the  lap  of  a 
mummy  in  Cist  31 ;  it  is  the  largest  in  the  collection.^  It  is  made 
from  a  peeled  stick  imworked  except  at  the  ends.  The  point  is  of  red 

1  See  table  of  measurements  at  end  of  description. 


86  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

jasper  and  is  secured  to  the  stick  by  a  seizing  of  heavy  sinew.  The 
one  illustrated  in  f ,  found  near  the  right  hand  of  mummy  2,  Cist 
27,  is  slightly  tapered  at  the  notched  end.  The  red  jasper  point 
is  firmly  wedged  in  the  notch;  the  sinew  bindings  were  in  place 
when  the  specimen  was  found,  but  crumbled  away  on  exposure  to 
the  air.  Specimens  g,  and  j,  lay  at  the  foot  of  mummy  1,  Cist  24. 
The  latter  is  flattened  on  either  side  at  the  notched  end;  its  head 
is  of  yellow  jasper  and  is  secured  to  the  shaft  by  a  neat  seizing 
of  fine  flat  sinew  applied  very  tightly.  The  body  of  the  shaft 
is  painted  with  a  thin  grey  wash;  at  the  notched  end  on  either 
side  are  daubs  of  thick  dark  red  paint  put  on  over  the  wrappings 
and  also  discoloring  the  base  of  the  chipped  point.  The  head  of 
g,  is  worked  from  a  thin  spall  of  dark  fhnt,  the  original  surface  of 
the  flake  showing  on  one  side.  It  is  fastened  to  the  shaft  with  flat 
sinew.  The  shaft  itself  is  colored  with  dark  red  paint  which  ends 
where  the  taper  begins,  showing  that  it  was  tinted  after  it  had  been 
inserted  in  the  main-shaft  of  the  dart. 

MEASUREMENTS  OF  FORESHAFTS  IN  INCHES 

A 

Total  length    6f 

Length  of  shaft 4f 

Diameter  of  shaft ^ 

Length  of  head    21 

Width  of  head  at  base 1 

Comparing  these  with  the  dimensions  of  f oreshafts  from  south- 
eastern Utah  given  by  Pepper  (1905,  p.  127),  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  latter  average  considerably  larger. 

On  plate  34,  e,  is  shown  a  wooden  bunt  head  tightly  wedged  into 
the  socket  of  the  main-shaft,  beyond  the  end  of  which  it  protrudes 
for  1^  inches.  The  rounded  end  is  f  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  It  is 
roughly  finished  and  is  much  like  a  specimen  figured  in  our  first 
report,  which  we  thought  might  possibly  be  a  bimt  head  for  an 
atlatl  dart.^ 

Pepper,2  illustrates  several  foreshafts  with  bimt  heads  of  bone 
fitted  down  over  them.  Nothing  of  this  sort  is  in  the  collection, 
but  there  is  a  main-shaft,  c,  whose  distal  end,  instead  of  being  pro- 
vided with  the  usual  socket,  is  brought  to  a  plain  tapering  point. 

1  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  figure  92  and  p.  185.  2  1905,  plate  III. 


B 

C 

D 

51 

6 

5f 

^ 

41 

^ 

^ 

t 

f 

If 

If 

u 

f 

f 

f 

Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  35 


a,  b,  Unfinished  foreshaft  points;    c,  Foreshaft  point;  d,  Chipped  knife  blade;   e,  Hafted 

pipe-drill;  f,  Chipped  atlatl  stone;  g.  Chipped  flint  graver;  h,  i,  Unfinished  flint  disc;  j, 

k,  Chipped  knife  blades;  1,  Flint  knife  (blade  broken),    a,  f,  h,  i,  j,  k,  1,  White  Dog  Cave; 

b,  c,  d,  g,  Burial  cave,  Sayodneechee  Canyon;  e,  Cave  6.     (About  i.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  87 

It  is  possible  that  a  bone  head  was  sHpped  on  over  this,  and  the 
foreshaft  dispensed  with. 

Dart  Points.^  All  the  chipped  atlatl  dart  heads  which  were 
found  attached  to  foreshafts  were  of  the  tanged  variety.  From  a 
skeleton  in  Sayodneechee  Cave  (1914),  however,  and  in  a  little 
skin  sack  from  Cist  6,  White  Dog  Cave,  were  recovered  a  number 
of  points  similar  in  size  and  shape  to  the  tanged  specimens  but 
with  unnotched  bases  (plate  35,  a,  b).  We  beheve  these  are  dart 
heads  completed  up  to  the  final  step  of  flaking  out  the  deep  notches 
on  the  lower  sides,  a  step  deferred  until  just  before  mounting  them 
in  the  foreshafts,  because  of  the  danger  in  an  unmounted  condition 
of  breakage  of  the  long  and  delicate  flanges.  Almost  all  our 
finished  points  are  notched  at  right  angles  to  their  long  axes,  the 
notches  having  a  depth  equal  to  about  one-third  of  the  total  width 
of  the  base.  The  notches  of  the  large  chipped  knives,  on  the  other 
hand,  instead  of  being  set  at  right  angles  to  the  long  axes  of  the 
specimens,  run  in  at  an  acute  angle  (compare  the  specimens  illus- 
trated in  the  two  plates,  34  and  35) . 

Atlatl  Stones.  On  plate  35,  f,  is  illustrated  a  chipped  object 
thought  to  have  been  originally  fastened  to  the  back  of  the  atlatl 
shown  in  f,  plate  33,  which  was  found  in  the  same  cist  with  it 
(Cist  24,  White  Dog  Cave).  The  material  is  translucent  quartz; 
in  shape  it  resembles  a  diminutive  "  turtle-back  "  with  one  flat 
surface.  On  the  upper,  or  convex,  side  are  faint  marks  that  appear 
to  have  been  made  by  wrappings. 

Four  small  loaf-shaped  stones  were  taken  from  the  bottom  of 
Cist  27.  Though  somewhat  smaller  than  those  fastened  to  atlatls 
b  and  d,  plate  33,  they  are  of  about  the  same  shape  and  were  with- 
out much  doubt  atlatl  stones.  Each  of  them  has  one  side  flattened 
to  fit  snugly  against  the  atlatl  shaft.  Three  are  made  of  a  green 
stone  somewhat  the  color  of,  but  less  hard  than,  jade;  the  surface 
of  one  is  poHshed,  the  other  two  are  roughened  as  if  by  some  chemi- 
cal action,  but  retain  traces  of  an  original  polish.  The  fourth  stone 
(plate  17,  f,  g)  has  rather  more  pointed  ends  and  differs  further 
from  the  others  in  having  a  deep  concavity  cut  in  the  under 
side;  it  is  made  from  an  imidentified  fossil  and  the  surface  is  un- 
polished. 

!  These  and  the  following  specimens  (atlatl  stones)  are  treated  here,  rather  than  under  their 
proper  place  among  the  stone  objects,  because  they  are  really  integral  parts  of  the  atlatl. 


88  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

Another  specimen  is  perhaps  an  unfinished  atlatl  stone;  parts  of 
its  surface  show  chipping,  others  grinding.  The  material  is  the 
same  as  in  the  group  of  three  described  above. 

Grooved  Clubs.  On  plate  36,  f ,  g,  are  shown  two  of  these  objects. 
The  collection  contains  four  complete  specimens  and  one  fragment. 
The  former  are  from  burial  cists  in  White  Dog  Cave,  and  the  frag- 
ment is  from  a  looted  and  partly  burned-out  burial  cist  in  Cave  6. 
The  best  preserved  of  these  is  one  of  a  pair  found  with  the  mummy 
of  an  adult  male  in  Cist  27.  It  is  20 §  inches  in  length,  2  inches  wide 
at  the  broad  end,  and  tapers  to  1|  inches  in  width  at  the  small  end; 
the  average  thickness  is  f  of  an  inch.  The  warping  of  the  stick  may 
be  partly  accidental  as  it  will  be  noted  that  the  two  specimens 
figured  are  not  bent  in  the  same  direction.  The  edges  and  broad 
surfaces  are  rounded  (see  cross-section  of  the  one  illustrated  in  g). 
On  each  side  are  four  deep  parallel  longitudinal  grooves  17  inches 
long,  with  a  break  at  one  point  as  shown  in  the  drawing.  These 
grooves  are  neatly  made,  evenly  spaced,  V-shaped  cuts.  Two 
inches  from  the  small  end  the  club  is  ringed  by  a  deep  groove,  set 
at  a  slight  angle  and  widened  at  one  edge  to  a  broad  curved  notch; 
in  the  groove  are  traces  of  cord  or  sinew  wrapping.  A  cement-like 
substance,  thickest  about  the  edge  of  the  notch,  still  adheres  to 
one  side  of  the  stick,  and  seems  to  have  been  put  on  over  the 
wrappings.  It  is  possible  that  the  groove  and  notch  may  represent 
a  seat  for  a  wrist  cord.  There  are  two  other  much  shallower  en- 
circling grooves,  one  4  inches,  the  other  5|  inches  from  the  small 
end;  in  these  also  are  marks  of  wrappings.  All  surfaces  of  the 
club  show  careful  finish,  but  no  traces  of  paint,  the  only  color  being 
a  thin  red  line  in  one  of  the  grooves  which  is  probably  a  print  from 
a  wrapping  cord.  The  edges  and  ends  of  the  stick  are  not  bruised 
or  battered.  Because  of  age  and  partial  decay  the  club  now  weighs 
but  2|  ounces,  but  an  undecayed  fragment  from  Cave  6  shows  the 
original  wood  to  have  been  dense  and  heavy. 

The  foregoing  description  wdll  answer  for  all  the  clubs  in  the 
collection,  as  they  show  little  individual  variation.  While  we  can 
assign  no  specific  use  to  these  objects,  we  do  not  think  they  are 
rabbit-sticks  such  as  those  used  among  the  Pueblo  tribes.^  Most 
of  the  latter  differ  from  these  in  some  details,  particularly  the 

1  Mr.  C.  C.  Willoughby  has  suggested  that  they  may  have  been  used  to  ward  off  spears  after 
the  manner  in  which  the  natives  of  one  of  the  Solomon  Islands  use  an  odd-shaped  club  for 
fending  off  spears,  and  also  as  a  weapon  of  defense. 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  36 


a,  Wooden  implement;  b,  Wooden  gaming  baU;  c,  Ceremonial  stick;  d,  e,  Opposite  ends 

of  wooden  device;  f,  g,  Grooved  clubs  accompanying  atlatls.     All  from  White  Dog  Cave 

except  a,  which  is  from  Cave  14.     (b,  about  i;  a,  c-g,  about  1/5.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  89 

familiar  type  used  by  the  Hopi,  which  in  addition  to  having  a  hand 
grip  cut  at  one  end,  is  as  a  rule  decorated  by  a  painting  with  a  pre- 
scribed design,  one  element  of  which  is  a  pair  of  black  markings 
symbolizing  rabbit  ears  or  rabbit  feet.  An  ungrooved  rabbit-stick, 
6  inches  longer  than  our  grooved  clubs  but  somewhat  resembling 
them  in  shape,  is  in  the  Peabody  Museum.  It  was  collected  by  Dr. 
Edward  Palmer  in  1875  from  the  Diegueno  Indians  and  is  cata- 
logued as  a  ''boomerang."  Clubs  identical  with  our  specimens  were 
found  in  a  pit-shrine  near  Laguna,  New  Mexico,  by  Mrs.  Parsons,^ 
and  Hough  figures  one  from  a  cave  near  Lava,  New  Mexico.^  In 
the  Peabody  Museum  are  fragments  of  two  grooved  clubs  from 
Yucatan  which  differ  from  ours  only  in  that  the  broad  surfaces 
and  the  edges  are  flat  instead  of  rounded,  and  that  there  are  a 
greater  number  of  the  parallel  grooves.  The  sculptures  of  Chichen 
Itza  frequently  depict  these  clubs,  usually  in  the  hands  of  warriors 
who  also  carry  atlatls  and  atlatl  spears.  One  is  figured  most  real- 
istically on  the  sculptured  top  of  an  altar  in  the  outer  chamber  or 
vestibule  of  the  Temple  of  the  Tigers,  where  it  is  shown  in  the  left 
hand  of  a  warrior,  who  bears  as  well  an  atlatl  and  sheaf  of  spears. 

In  company  with  all  the  grooved  clubs  noted  either  atlatls  or 
some  adjunct  of  the  atlatl  were  found.  The  significance  of  this  is 
two-fold;  first,  that  it  aids  in  establishing  the  identity  of  the 
Laguna  pit-shrine  and  Lava  cave  specimens  as  Basket-maker; 
second,  that  it  shows  these  clubs  to  be  a  distinct  type  used  by  a 
people  who  also  used  the  atlatl.  That  the  Lagima  clubs  were  found 
with  other  offerings  most  of  which  were  feather  sticks  of  relatively 
recent  make  does  not,  to  our  minds,  affect  the  question  of  their 
antiquity ;  the  probable  explanation  of  their  presence  in  the  shrine 
being  that  they  were  found  in  a  Basket-maker  cave  by  some  Pueblo 
Indian  who  regarded  them  as  appropriate  offerings  for  the  same 
reason  that  ancient  arrow  points  are  still  prized  by  the  Pueblos  as 
fetishes.  This  seems  all  the  more  likely  as  the  Zuni  are  said  by 
Mr.  Gushing  to  have  recovered  baskets  from  prehistoric  deposits.' 

Planting  Sticks.  In  plate  37  is  a  series  of  planting  sticks:  num- 
bers a,  c,  d,  and  g  were  found  in  Cist  24,  White  Dog  Cave;  e  and  f 
are  from  Cave  9. 

The  one  shown  in  g,  we  regard  as  a  type  specimen  of  Basket- 
maker  planting  stick;  it  is  45  inches  in  length  and  is  made  from  a 

»  Parsons,  1918,  figures  36,  38,  39.         «  Hough,  1914,  p.  19,  figure  21.  »  Ibid.,  1919,  p.  267. 


90  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

root  of  some  hardwood  tree,  possibly  oak.  The  whole  surface  has 
been  smoothed  by  grinding,  but  very  little  altered  in  shape.  The 
smoothing  process  has  removed  all  bark  except  that  in  the  deep 
depressions  such  as  occur  in  roots.  One  end  has  been  worked  down 
to  a  thin  blade  having  a  rounded  point  and  one  sharp  edge.  The 
blade  is  2  inches  in  width  and  begins  17  inches  from  the  end  of  the 
stick.  It  has  a  smooth,  almost  polished  surface.  The  crook  at  the 
proximal  end  is  natural,  but  it  gives  the  implement  a  nice  balance 
when  held  in  position  for  use.    This  specimen  shows  long  service. 

The  sticks  represented  in  e,  f,  differ  but  little  from  the  one  just 
described.  Both  are  made  from  roots;  f,  is  42|  inches  in  length  and 
has  a  very  thin  blade  with  one  sharp  edge;  e,  is  32  inches  in  length 
with  a  blade  2f  inches  wide,  sharp  on  the  end  and  curved  edge. 

The  Chff-dweller  planting  sticks  which  correspond  to  these  in 
form  are  much  hghter  in  weight  with  thinner  blades,  and  nearly 
straight,  carefully  shaped  handles  that  normally  terminate  in 
round  knobs. ^ 

The  one  figured  in  a,  found  with  mummy  1  in  Cist  24,  is  of  a 
different  type,  having  a  plain  flattened  point  instead  of  a  thin- 
edged  blade;  it  is  49  inches  in  length  and  averages  J  of  an  inch  in 
diameter.  One  end  is  worked  down  to  a  flat  point,  the  other  end 
has  an  artificial  crook.  It  is  made  from  a  peeled  hmb  of  some 
hard  wood.  Knots  are  rubbed  down  and  smoothed.  This  stick  is 
dark  in  color  and  polished  for  its  entire  length  by  handUng  and 
wear. 

The  specimen  shown  in  b,  from  Cist  6,  White  Dog  Cave,  is  made 
from  a  heavy  greasewood  stick;  it  has  a  flattened  point  like  the 
one  just  described.  Simple  sticks  of  this  nature  are  also  common 
in  cliff-dwelHngs,  and  are  used  today  by  the  Navajo. 

The  implement,  c,  is  made  from  a  rather  light  wood  and  has  a 
neatly  tapered  point;  the  crook  at  the  small  end  is  partly  natural; 
d  is  32  inches  long  and  is  made  of  a  slender  greasewood  stick;  it 
has  a  long  finely  tapering  point.  The  entire  length  of  the  imple- 
ment has  been  smoothed  and  rounded.  The  point  is  sUghtly  pol- 
ished. 

Scoop-like  Objects.  Wooden  objects  similar  to  those  repre- 
sented on  plate  38,  g,  h,  i,  were  found  so  regularly  in  Basket-maker 

1  See  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  plate  47,  d,  e;  the  stick  shown  in  plate  47,  c,  we  now  think  is 
probably  Basket-maker.    It  was  found  with  a  disturbed  burial  in  a  small  cave  in  Sagi  Canyon. 


Peabodt  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  37 


Planting  sticks.    All  from  White  Dog  Cave  with  the  exception  of  e  and  f, 
which  are  from  Cave  7.     (About  1/7.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  91 

caves  that  we  came  to  regard  their  discovery  in  the  preliminary 
examination  of  a  site  as  an  indication  that  other  traces  of  Basket- 
maker  occupancy  would  be  found.  For  this  reason  they  are  given 
a  more  detailed  description  than  their  commonplace  appearance 
might  seem  to  warrant.  All  of  them  have  very  much  the  same 
general  form  as  those  illustrated;  this  seems  due  to  selection  rather 
than  to  shaping  as  they  are  simply  wooden  slabs  from  small  logs, 
the  outer  or  convex  surface  natural,  the  inner  side  and  ends  usually 
charred  by  fire.  From  this  and  their  appearance  as  a  whole,  we 
judge  that  they  were  merely  unconsimied  pieces  of  firewood,  se- 
lected, as  before  stated,  on  account  of  their  shape.  A  few,  how- 
ever, show  no  burning,  being  shells  of  wood  rifted  from  the  outer 
part  of  a  timber,  then  ground  at  the  ends  to  the  required  length. 

One  unvarying  feature  of  these  objects  is  their  worn  and  roimded 
edges;  we  once  used  a  similar  piece  of  wood  to  scrape  the  loose 
sand  from  a  cist  and  found  that  the  edges  soon  became  worn  in  the 
same  way;  for  this  reason  we  are  inchned  to  think  they  were  em- 
ployed principally  for  digging  cists.  They  were,  no  doubt,  found 
useful  for  other  purposes,  as  one  in  the  collection  has  a  quantity  of 
caked  yellow  pigment  adhering  to  its  concave  side.  Apparently 
it  had  been  used  as  a  palette.  Such  slabs  might  also  have  served 
as  rude  food  trays,  and  possibly  for  beating  and  shredding  grass, 
a  guess  that  we  hazarded  in  our  first  report.  Still  another  possible 
function  for  these  objects  might  have  been  transferring  hot  stones 
from  the  fire  to  cooking  baskets,  in  which  case  they  may  have  been 
used  in  pairs.  Though  all  those  found  were  not  saved  the  collection 
contains  nineteen  pieces  ranging  in  size  from  5|  inches  long  and  3 
inches  wide  to  18^  inches  long  and  6  inches  wide,  the  average  di- 
mensions being  7  inches  long  and  4  wide,  a  convenient  size  to  use 
in  the  hand. 

Hough  figures  "  a  shell  of  wood  "  from  Tularosa  cave  which 
resembles  the  implements  just  described;  ^  while  another  from  the 
Mesa  Verde  apparently  identical  with  ours  is  figured  by  Morris.^ 

Curved  Wooden  Tools.  Om-  two  specimens  are  so  closely  similar 
to  each  other  that  it  is  probable  they  represent  a  definite  type. 
The  better  preserved  example  (plate  36,  a)  is  a  piece  of  very  hard, 
close-grained  wood,  12  inches  long.  Its  pronounced  curve  is  ap- 
parently natural,  but  all  its  surfaces  have  been  worked  down  by 

1  Hough,  1914,  plate  14,  figure  2.  «  Morris,  1919,  a;  plate  44,  e. 


92  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

whittling  or  scraping.  One  end  is  almost  round,  the  other  much 
thinner.  The  middle  part  of  the  concave  side  is  worn  to  a  slim 
rounded  edge  and  is  highly  polished  by  long  use.  The  two  ends  are 
stained  dark  by  much  handling.  The  object  was  obviously  held 
by  the  ends  and  worked  toward  the  body  like  a  modern  draw- 
knife.  The  unscratched  condition  and  high  polish  of  the  concave 
edge  shows  that  it  must  have  been  used  on  some  non-abrasive  sub- 
stance. Its  curve  fits  the  thigh  so  well  that  we  have  thought  the 
implement  might  have  been  employed  in  some  way  for  dressing  or 
suppling  hides  held  over  the  knee. 

The  second  specimen,  though  a  trifle  longer,  is  of  the  same  shape 
and  bears  the  same  polish  on  the  inner  edge. 

Other  Objects  of  Wood.  On  plate  41,  a,  is  illustrated  a  pair  of 
sHm  worked  twigs,  7|  inches  long  and  -^  of  an  inch  in  diameter. 
The  two  are  held  together  by  a  string  tied  in  little  grooves  that 
encircle  their  lower  ends;  this  is  evidently  a  permanent  attach- 
ment but  it  is  loose  enough  to  allow  the  two  sticks  to  be  spread 
apart.  An  adjustable  tie  was  evidently  used  at  the  upper  end, 
for  there  only  one  twig  is  grooved  and  the  other  has  a  small  hole 
drilled  through  it.  A  string  is  made  fast  to  the  grooved  stick;  its 
loose  end  was  undoubtedly  passed  through  the  hole,  pulled  tight 
and  made  fast  when  it  was  desired  to  close  the  pair  together  and 
hold  them  in  place.  A  number  of  similar  objects  are  in  the  Grand 
Gulch  collection  in  the  American  Museum,  New  York  (H-13180 
and  H-13267) ;  these  sticks  are  also  tied  permanently  together  at 
their  lower  ends,  and  have  a  loose-ended  string  set  in  a  groove  at 
the  upper  end  of  one  of  them.  The  other  stick,  in  each  of  the  New 
York  pairs,  has  a  little  string  loop  instead  of  the  drilled  eye  of  the 
example  here  illustrated.  All  these  specimens  were  evidently 
designed  to  be  clamped  over  and  made  fast  about  objects  6  or  7 
inches  wide  and  not  over  |  of  an  inch  thick.  As  to  what  such 
objects  might  have  been  we  are  entirely  ignorant.  A  wooden  awl 
about  6  inches  long,  made  from  a  peeled  greasewood  stick,  was 
found ;  the  butt  is  cut  off  square  and  the  other  end  is  whittled  to 
a  sharp  point.  For  a  variety  of  other  specimens  made  wholly  or  in 
part  of  wood,  see  under  ''Ceremonial  Objects." 


Peabodt  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  38 


a,  b,  c,  Skin  bag  and  contents;  d,  e,  f,  Manos  or  grinding  stones;  g,  h,  i,  Wooden  scoops, 
a,  b,  c,  Cave  14;  d-i,  "White  Dog  Cave.     (About  i) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  93 

OBJECTS  OF  STONE 

Manos.  These  are  intimately  related  to  the  domestic  life  of 
corn-growing  Indians,  and  in  a  measure  furnish  an  index  to  their 
progress  as  agriculturists.  The  manos  of  the  more  highly  de- 
veloped tribes,  such  as  the  Pueblos,  show  a  tendency  towards 
specialized  forms;  while  those  used  by  people  of  less  firmly  estab- 
Ushed  corn-eating  habits  are  as  a  rule  stones  of  convenient  shape 
with  little  or  no  alteration  of  the  original  form  other  than  that 
due  to  wear.  Basket-maker  manos  belong  to  the  latter  class. 
Three  typical  examples  from  White  Dog  Cave  are  reproduced  in 
plate  38,  d,  e,  f . 

The  latter  is  5f  inches  long,  3^  inches  wide,  and  1 J  inches  thick. 
It  is  made  from  a  thin  slab  of  indurated  sandstone  the  edges 
roughly  worked  down  to  give  the  implement  an  oval  shape.  Only 
one  surface  shows  use,  this  is  ground  nearly  flat.  The  one  figured 
in  d,  is  3f  inches  long,  2f  inches  wide  and  If  inches  thick;  it  is  a 
hard  lava-like  stone  of  natural  shape.  One  side  is  much  worn  and 
has  a  convex  surface;  a  small  area  of  the  top  also  shows  signs  of 
use.  That  shown  in  e,  is  slightly  larger  than  the  last  and  of  the 
same  material.  The  form  shows  slight  modification  and  both  sides 
are  about  equally  worn. 

In  addition  to  the  above  specimens,  there  is  in  the  collection 
half  a  mano  of  soft  sandstone  with  edges  pecked  and  ground  to 
give  it  an  oval  shape.  Both  sides  are  much  worn;  one  shows 
traces  of  a  dark  red,  the  other  of  a  yellow  color,  presumably  evi- 
dences of  secondary  use  as  a  paint  grinder.  Another  stone  of 
about  the  same  size  but  which  is  probably  not  a  mano,  is  a  rounded 
river  boulder  4^  inches  long  and  2^  inches  thick.  A  portion  of 
either  side  bears  a  high  polish  quite  different  from  the  rough  sur- 
face produced  by  grinding  on  a  metate.  This  polish  is  obviously 
the  result  of  long  rubbing  on  a  non-abrasive  surface;  work  on 
hides  or  use  in  hulling  seeds  in  a  basket  may  be  suggested. 

Metate.  A  single  broken  specimen  was  found.  Like  the  manos 
it  is  of  a  crude  and  unspecialized  type,  being  merely  a  flat  slab  un- 
modified except  for  a  hollow  on  one  side,  the  width  of  which  is  the 
same  as  the  length  of  the  manos. 

Chipped  Knife  Blades.  One  of  these  specimens  (plate  35,  j)  was 
found  at  the  right  hand  of  mummy  2,  Cist  27,  White  Dog  Cave. 


94  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

Its  length  is  6J  inches,  its  greatest  width  is  2f  inches,  the  average 
thickness  is  i  of  an  inch.  The  material  is  a  mottled  yellow  flint. 
The  point  for  1^  inches  is  a  dark  red  which  seems  due  to  staining 
rather  than  being  the  natural  color  of  the  stone.  It  was  reduced 
to  an  even  thinness  by  the  chipping  off  at  regular  intervals  of  long 
broad  flakes,  at  so  obtuse  an  angle  that  no  central  ridge  is  left,  the 
face  of  the  blade  being  slightly  convex  instead  of  angular.  The 
cutting  edge  is  keen,  the  result  of  fine  secondary  chipping.  The 
stem  is  tapered  to  a  wedge-shaped  base. 

The  blade  shown  in  k  was  found  with  mummy  3,  Cist  22.  It  had 
been  broken  in  two  pieces  before  burial;  the  halves  lay  at  a  httle 
distance  from  each  other  and  one  of  them  was  discolored  by  some 
agency  to  which  the  other  was  not  exposed.  This  blade  measures 
6^  inches  in  length,  2^  inches  in  width,  and  averages  slightly  under 
I  of  an  inch  in  thickness.  The  material  is  chalcedony.  It  differs 
but  little  from  the  first  specimen,  except  that  the  end  is  rounded 
and  shows  signs  of  an  attempt  to  grind  away  a  slight  protuberance 
that  had  resisted  the  original  chipping.  On  the  base  of  the  blade 
are  traces  of  the  gum  that  once  served  to  cement  it  to  its  haft. 
The  latter  was  also  found  in  the  cist;  and  although  it  is  badly 
rotted  and  shrunken,  its  notch  still  fits  the  blade.  In  shape  it  is  a 
duplicate  of  the  haft  next  to  be  described. 

The  workmanship  of  these  two  knives  compares  very  favorably 
with  that  of  similar  implements  from  other  parts  of  North  America. 
In  shape  and  general  appearance  they  most  closely  resemble  the 
large  chipped  knives  of  Mexico  and  Central  America. 

Hafted  Knife.  The  specimen  shown  in  plate  35, 1,  is  from  Cist  6, 
White  Dog  Cave.  The  blade,  part  of  which  is  unfortunately  miss- 
ing, was  probably  once  4^  to  5  inches  long;  it  is  2  inches  wide  at 
the  base  and  has  a  thickness  of  I  inch.  The  material  is  a  close- 
grained  white  stone.  The  chipping  of  the  portion  that  remains  is 
rather  coarse,  though  the  notches  and  barbs  show  skillful  flaking. 

The  wooden  handle  measures  3^  inches  in  length,  a  fraction  over 
1  inch  in  width,  and  has  an  average  thickness  of  f  of  an  inch.  The 
lower  end  thickens  considerably  to  allow  for  a  notch  f  of  an  inch 
deep  into  which  the  blade  is  set  and  there  held  in  place  with  cement- 
like gum  reinforced  by  a  small  wooden  wedge  and  wrappings  of  pitch- 
smeared  string.  The  handle  is  well-preserved  and  shows  careful 
finish;   it  appears  to  have  been  made  from  a  section  of  a  small 


Pe.\body  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  39 


White  Dog  Cave 
Ceremonial  objects:  a,  Stuffed  bird  skin;  b,  Wand;  c,  Deer  tail.     (About  3/5.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  95 

limb  worked  down  to  shape  by  cutting  away  two  surfaces;  both 
the  wide  sides  thus  produced  are  slightly  convex,  while  the  edges 
are  nearly  flat.  At  the  butt  the  handle  curves  and  terminates  in  a 
neatly  finished  end,  the  peculiar  form  of  which  is  duplicated  in  two 
other  less  well-preserved  specimens;  one  of  them  is  the  handle  of 
the  large  chipped  blade,  k,  previously  described.  This  type  of  butt 
may  represent  an  individual  whim,  or  it  may  perhaps  prove  to  be 
a  characteristic  of  Basket-maker  hafts.  There  are  a  number  of 
stone  knives  with  plain  handles  from  this  general  region  in  the 
collections  of  various  museimis;  some  or  all  of  these  may  be 
Basket-maker,  but  unfortunately  the  data  accompanying  them 
leave  doubt  as  to  their  exact  origin.  What  are,  however,  surely 
Cliff-dweller  hafts  from  Aztec,  New  Mexico,  are  described  and 
figured  by  Morris,^  and  one  from  the  Mesa  Verde  is  illustrated  by 
Nordenskiold.2  Hoffman  figures  two  modern  Ute  knives  with 
plain  handles.^ 

Pipe  Drill.  The  chipped  point  shown  in  plate  35,  e,  is  apparently 
an  old  darthead  remounted  in  its  present  handle.  It  is  of  very 
hard,  lustrous  flint,  1^  inches  long,  and  j^  of  an  inch  in  breadth  at 
the  base.  Both  edges  are  much  worn  down  and  beveled  by  long- 
continued  boring,  the  plane  of  the  bevels  indicating  clockwise  rota- 
tion. The  handle  is  a  stick  2  f  inches  long,  f  of  an  inch  thick,  having 
one  end  rounded,  and  the  other  notched  to  provide  a  seat  for  the 
chipped  point,  which  is  held  in  place  by  a  seizing  of  fiber  string. 

The  wear  on  the  point  indicates  clearly  that  this  specimen  was 
used  as  a  drill,  and  the  nature  of  the  haft  confirms  this.  Held  in 
position  for  boring,  the  haft  is  found  to  be  just  the  right  length  to 
bear  against  the  palm  of  the  hand  at  the  base  of  the  index  finger; 
in  this  position  the  drill  can  be  easily  turned  by  the  index  and  third 
fingers  and  the  thmnb,  while  pressure  can  be  applied  to  the  butt 
by  the  palm.  The  chipped  point  exactly  fits  the  bores  of  the 
Basket -maker  stub  pipes. 

No  pipes  were  found  in  1916-1917,  but  type  examples  are  shown 
in  figure  94,  a,  b,  c,  of  our  previous  report. 

Graver.  A  tiny  stone  tool,  evidently  designed  for  scratching 
fine  hues  on  wood  or  bone,  is  illustrated  in  plate  35,  g.  It  is  an 
irregularly  shaped  jasper  flake,  less  than  an  inch  in  diameter,  and 
■is  of  an  inch  thick;  the  top  is  convex;  the  lower  side  is  flat  at  one 

1  1919,  p.  33  and  figures  17, 18.  2  1893,  p.  97,  figure  59.  »  1896,  figures  52, 63. 


96  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

place  where  a  small  and  very  sharp  point  has  been  carefully 
chipped  out.  Such  an  implement  as  this  must  have  been  used  to 
incise  the  clean-cut  parallel  Unes  seen  on  the  curved  wooden  clubs 
figured  on  plate  36,  f,  g. 

Flaking  Tool.  This  implement  (figure  15)  from  plundered  Cist  6, 
White  Dog  Cave,  is  included  here  because  of  its  intimate  con- 
nection with  stone  chipping.  So  far  as  we  know  it  is  the  only  com- 
plete example  of  a  prehistoric  flaker  of  its  type  that  has  yet  been 
found.  It  consists  of  an  antler  or  very  hard  bone  point  mounted 
on  a  wooden  shaft  in  the  manner  indicated  in  the  drawing,  which 
also  shows  more  clearly  than  a  description  the  shape  of  the  point 
itself.  The  length  of  the  latter  is  3f  inches,  of  which  ^  of  an  inch 
projects  beyond  the  end  of  the  shaft;  the  width  appears  to  be  uni- 
formly I  of  an  inch.  The  projecting  portion  tapers  to  |  of  an  inch 
at  the  extreme  end.  The  shaft  is  a  piece  of  an  old  atlatl  spear 
shaft  35  inches  long.  The  bone  point  is  bound  to  the  smaller  end 
of  this  by  seizings  of  skin  overwrapped  with  sinew.  The  larger 
end  is  worked  to  a  rounded  point,  for  the  purpose,  perhaps,  of 
allowing  it  to  be  easily  thrust  into  the  sand  to  hold  it  upright  while 
the  workman  was  using  other  tools.  In  the  middle  are  a  number 
of  turns  of  a  wide  thong  of  skin  wound  spirally  about  the  shaft 
and  running  towards  the  working  end.  These  are  applied  in  two 
layers,  one  above  the  other;  at  the  distal  end  they  are  held  in 
place  by  a  binding  of  sinew  and  there  are  signs  that  they  once  ex- 
tended farther  down  the  shaft  than  they  do  at  present.  These 
wrappings  were  probably  cut  from  hide  with  the  hair  on  it,  al- 
though the  fur  has  now  almost  entirely  disappeared;  their  purpose 
will  be  discussed  later. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  this  implement  was  used  as  a  stone- 
flaker.  Pope  figures  a  Yurok  bone  pointed  arrow-flaker  with  a 
shaft  17  f  inches  long,  which  is  very  similar  to  this  specimen.^  Rau 
illustrates  another  from  Nevada  which  he  describes  as  a  slender 
blunt  point  of  horn  bound  with  cotton  cord  to  a  wooden  handle 
about  the  thickness  of  an  arrow  shaft.  According  to  the  drawing 
the  length  of  the  latter  is  29 1  inches.^  Cushing  gives  a  sketch  of 
an  arrowmaker  using  a  long-hafted  flaker,  but  provides  no  infor- 
mation as  to  the  data  on  which  the  drawing  is  based,  though  he 
briefly  describes  the  way  the  implement  is  used.^    The  following 

1  1918,  plate  27.  2  1876,  p.  96,  and  figure  340.  »  1895,  figure  6. 


Peabodt  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  40 


White  Dog  Cave 
Objects  forming  bundle  from  lap  of  mummy  (plate  7,  b),  Cist  31.     (About  J.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  97 

is  Schumacher's  description  of  the  Klamath  method  of  flaking: 
"  The  tool  is  worked  with  the  right  hand,  while  the  lower  part  of 
the  handle,  usually  ornamented,  is  held  between  the  arm  and  the 
body  so  as  to  guide  the  instrument  with  a  steady  hand."  ^  The 
foregoing  makes  clear  the  advantage  of  the  long  shaft,  but  does 
not  point  out  the  fact  that  the  weight  of  the  body  can,  by  means 
of  it,  be  brought  to  assist  the  pressure  of  the  hand. 

We  can  find  no  reference  to  padding  of  that  part  of  the  shaft 
that  is  held  between  the  arm  and  body;   such  was  undoubtedly 


aOBCQlff^iaii 


Figure  15 

a,  Flaking  stone;  b,  Arrow-flaker  of  antler  in  wooden  haft,  much  reduced  in  size;  c,  End 
of  arrow-flaker;  d,  Package  of  sinew  cord.     All  from  White  Dog  Cave.     (About  J,  with 

the  exception  of  b. ) 

the  purpose  of  the  central  hide  wrappings  on  our  specimen.  A 
soft  furry  padding  of  this  sort  must  have  contributed  greatly  to 
the  comfort  of  the  user,  particularly  if  his  arm  and  body  were  not 
protected  by  clothing;  and  it  probably  helped  also  to  secure  a 
firmer  grip  than  would  be  offered  by  the  bare  shaft. 

Flaking  Stone.  The  specimen  shown  in  a,  figure  15,  is  a  small 
flat  unworked  stone,  oval  in  outline,  3f  inches  long,  2§  inches  wide 
and  ^  inch  thick.  It  is  much  like  certain  stones  obtained  in  the 
Museum's  explorations  of  ancient  burial  places  in  Erie  County, 
New  York,  which  were  invariably  accompanied  by  bone  flaking 
implements  as  well  as  finished  and  unfinished  chipped  points  and 
knives.  The  Museum  collection  also  contains  similar  stones  from 
Madisonville,  Ohio,^  and  eastern  Massachusetts.  Mr.  Willoughby 
has  identified  these  stones  as  forming  part  of  the  flint  worker's 
equipment.  The  stones  from  New  York,  Ohio,  and  Massachusetts 
are  marked  with  scorings  which  are  not  present  on  this  specimen; 

»  Quoted  in  Holmes,  1919,  p.  312.  *  See  Hooton  and  Willoughby,  1920,  plate  6,  1,  m. 


98  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

our  tentative  identification  of  this  as  a  flaking  stone  is  strengthened 
by  the  fact  that  it  was  found  among  the  partly  rifled  contents  of 
Cist  6  which  also  held  the  hafted  flaking  tool  described  above,  as 
well  as  a  small  skin  bag  containing  two  nearly  finished  points,  a 
number  of  flakes  of  flint  and  various  colored  jasper,  a  combination 
of  objects  exactly  duphcating  those  found  in  the  New  York  graves. 

OBJECTS  OF  CLAY,  BONE,  ETC. 

Pottery.  No  specimens  of  true  pottery,  either  vessel  or  sherd, 
have  yet  been  found  by  us  under  circumstances  indicating  that  it 
was  a  Basket-maker  product.  All  but  one  of  the  several  jars  dis- 
covered came  from  the  surface  sand  overlying  the  Basket -maker 
deposits;  they  are  of  common  cliff-house  ware,  and  were  un- 
doubtedly cached  in  the  caves  at  a  comparatively  late  date.  The 
exception  is  a  pot  found  in  Sunflower  Cave  in  1915,  lying  below  a 
cUff-house  floor.  This  was  figured  in  our  previous  report  and  re- 
ferred to  as  possibly  of  Basket-maker  origin.^  It  is  of  plain  black 
ware,  uncorrugated;  in  shape  it  is  almost  spherical.  No  further 
evidence  that  the  Basket-makers  produced  vessels  of  this  type 
has  since  come  to  light,  and  we  are  inclined  to  consider  it  early 
Puebloan. 

The  only  specimen  that  even  remotely  resembles  pottery  was 
found  in  Cave  6.  It  is  a  fragment  from  the  rim  of  a  shallow  dish- 
Uke  receptacle  nearly  f  inch  thick,  made  of  unburned  clay  heavily 
tempered  with  shreds  of  cedar  bark.  It  was  molded  in  a  shallow 
basket,  the  print  of  which  is  plainly  visible  in  the  outer  surface  of 
the  sherd  (plate  25,  a).  The  inner  side  is  smoothed  off,  but  has  an 
irregular,  wavy  surface  as  if  it  had  been  done  by  the  fingers.  We 
do  not  know  whether  this  specimen  is  merely  a  fragment  of  a  clay 
lining  put  in  a  basket  to  render  it  watertight  or  fireproof,^  or 
whether  it  really  represents  an  early  attempt  at  pottery  making. 

Bone  Objects.  Objects  of  this  material  described  under  other 
heads  are:  beads,  flaker,  decorated  tubes,  rattle  handles,  plain 
tubes,  and  whistles.  This  practically  completes  the  list  of  speci- 
mens made  of  bone,  the  only  others  being  a  few  awls  (plate  42, 
e-h),  and  a  pair  of  un worked  cannon  bones  of  the  deer,  found 

1  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  plate  59,  a.  and  p.  144. 

*  Gushing  (1886,  p.  484)  describes  a  Havasupai  roasting  basket  lined  with  clay.  The  present 
object  may  have  been  made  for  a  like  purpose,  but  it  was  certainly  never  so  used,  as  bits  of  the 
cedar-bark  tempering  which  protrude  from  the  inner  surface  are  not  even  scorched. 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  41 


m 


a,  b,  c,  Objects  made  from  short  sections  of  sticks;  d,  e,  f,  Paired  bone  tubes;  g,  h,  Bone 
tubes.    All  from  White  Dog  Cave  except  f,  which  is  from  Sunflower  Cave.    (About  i.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  99 

carefully  wrapped  up  in  a  bunch  of  shredded  cedar  bark  at  the 
feet  of  mummy  1,  Cist  24,  White  Dog  Cave.  These  were  probably 
selected  and  laid  aside  to  be  fashioned  later  into  awls.  No  bone 
scrapers  occur. 

Dressed  Skin.  The  skins  of  animals  were  much  used :  some  as 
rawhide,  some  dried,  and  others  dressed  with  or  without  the  hair. 
Specimens  of  the  latter  were  very  finely  dressed,  being  as  soft  and 
pliable  as  the  best  buckskin  prepared  by  modern  Indians.  Deer 
and  mountain-sheep  skin  robes  have  already  been  mentioned. 
The  pelts  of  these  animals  were  also  extensively  employed  for 
minor  purposes,  as  in  cradle  edge-bindings  and  back-lashings,  in 
fur-string,  and  for  all  kinds  of  strong  thongs.  The  skins  of  prairie- 
dogs,  being  Hght  and  soft-furred  were  always  used  as  covers  for 
infants'  umbilical  pads. 

Bags  of  all  sorts  were  made  of  dressed  skin,  from  tiny  pouches 
to  hold  a  few  little  trinkets,  up  to  large  sacks  for  the  storage  of 
corn.  Some  have  the  hair  on,  others  do  not;  but  all  are  very  care- 
fully made,  the  seams  neatly  stitched  with  sinew  or  fine  cord  and 
turned  inside.  The  most  characteristic  bags  were  produced  by 
sewing  together  the  trimmed  skins  of  two  or  more  prairie-dogs  in 
such  a  way  that  the  neck  of  the  sack  was  formed  by  the  heads  of 
the  animals,  its  mouth  by  their  mouths.^  In  some  cases  as  many 
as  seven  or  eight  hides  were  used. 

Sinew.  The  many  references  in  this  report  to  the  use  of  sinew 
bindings  and  seizings  give  sufficient  evidence  of  its  value  to  the 
Basket -makers.  It  was  employed  whenever  a  firm  flat  Hgature 
was  desired,  as  well  as  for  thread  in  cases  requiring  extra  fine  and 
strong  sewing.  The  kinds  of  sinew  are,  of  course,  not  identifiable, 
but  the  bunch  of  it  in  its  raw  state  shown  in  figure  15,  d,  appears  to 
have  been  taken  from  some  large  animal. 

Feathers.  Feathers  were  used  for  the  following  purposes:  in 
hair  ornaments;  in  pendants;  as  edgings  in  fur  cloth;  for  the 
winging  of  atlatl  darts;  and  in  the  make-up  of  a  variety  of  objects 
of  unknown  use  which  we  have  classed  together  as  probably  cere- 
monial. 

1  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  figure  86. 


100  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 


CEREMONIAL  OBJECTS 


In  this  section  we  have  grouped  all  specimens  to  which  we  can- 
not assign  a  definite  utilitarian  purpose.  The  nature  of  many  of 
them  leaves  little  doubt  as  to  their  ceremonial  or  fetishistic  use; 
as  to  others  the  case  is  less  clear. 

Ceremonial  Whip.  To  one  end  of  a  thin,  peeled  greasewood  stick 
about  20  inches  in  length  there  is  bound  a  flat,  three-strand  braid 
of  shredded  yucca  leaves,  8  inches  long;  to  the  end  of  this  is  tied 
a  small  bunch  of  the  twigs  of  the  plant  called  ''  Brigham  tea"  ; 
the  twigs  are  10  inches  long,  so  that  the  total  length  of  the  speci- 
men is  a  little  over  a  yard.  It  has  the  look  of  a  scourge  or  whip, 
but  its  real  use  is,  of  course,  unknown. 

Problematical  Objects.  In  Cist  27,  White  Dog  Cave,  were  found 
a  number  of  broken  sticks  tied  together  with  string.  On  undoing 
the  bundle  it  was  found  that  the  sticks  were  fragments  of  two 
singular  contrivances,  the  use  of  which  we  cannot  even  guess 
(plate  36,  d,  e).  One  is  complete,  the  upper  part  of  the  second  is 
missing.  They  are  slim  Cottonwood  sticks  about  7  feet  long,  their 
lower  ends  pointed,  and  the  first  foot  or  so  of  their  shafts  soiled 
and  scarred  as  if  they  had  been  repeatedly  thrust  into  gravelly 
earth.  The  arrangement  of  strings  at  the  upper  end  of  the  com- 
plete specimen  is  better  explained  by  the  drawing  than  by  descrip- 
tion. It  will  be  seen  that  there  are  two  cords  running  downward 
from  the  tip.  These  are  so  arranged  as  to  form  two  adjustable 
loops  along  the  shaft,  the  knotted  ends  of  the  strings  serving  to 
keep  these  loops  from  being  pulled  out  by  whatever  object  they 
were  designed  to  hold. 

The  object  shown  in  c,  is  a  hardwood  branch  27 1  inches  long. 
The  bark  has  been  carefully  peeled  and  the  butt  end  smoothed  by 
rubbing.  For  a  distance  of  about  4  inches  from  the  butt  the  twigs 
have  been  cut  off  close  to  the  main  stem;  thence  to  the  tip  they 
are  also  cut  off,  but  their  bases  have  been  left  long  enough  to  give 
the  object  a  knobby  appearance.  The  ends  of  a  majority  of  these 
protruding  twig-stubs  are  merely  ground  down  to  a  flat  surface; 
but  three,  two  of  which  show  in  the  drawing,  have  neat,  shallow, 
cup-shaped  depressions  worked  in  them.  The  lower  four  inches  of 
the  stick,  from  which,  it  will  be  remembered,  the  projecting  twig- 
stubs  were  removed,  is  discolored  and  stained  as  if  by  having  been 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  42 


White  Dog  Cave 
a,  Handle  for  deer-hoof  rattle;  b,  c,  d,  Bone  tubes;  e-h,  Bone  awls;  i,  Bone  whistle.     (J.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  101 

thrust  into  damp  earth  or  clay.  A  httle  above  the  middle  are  two 
sets  of  sinew  bindings;  under  the  upper  one  of  these  are  remains  of 
the  quills  of  many  small  feathers  arranged  in  two  groups,  one  on 
either  side  of  the  shaft.  We  can  offer  no  suggestion  as  to  the  use  of 
this  specimen. 

Ceremonial  Wand.  The  unique  ceremonial  object  shown  in 
plate  39,  b,  was  found  with  mimimy  2,  Cist  24,  White  Dog  Cave;  it 
was  wrapped  in  a  bag  made  of  prairie-dog  skins,  and  lay  between 
the  right  arm  and  side  of  the  mummy  under  the.  fur-string  robe 
which  enveloped  the  body.  Details  that  are  not  obvious  in  the 
drawing  are  as  follows:  the  handle  of  wood  has  a  length  of  5 J 
inches;  the  upper  end  is  carved  to  represent  the  head  of  a  bird; 
the  eyes  are  formed  by  two  small  disk  beads  of  shell  stuck  on  with 
pitch.  Adhering  to  the  head  about  the  eyes  are  tufts  of  the  fine 
reddish  hair  of  some  animal.  At  the  crown  of  the  head  there  is  a 
sUght  depression  filled  with  hard  gum  or  pitch  in  which  are  a  few 
hairs  like  those  at  the  side  of  the  head.  These  may  be  the  remains 
of  a  crest,  or  the  result  of  accident.  The  appearance  of  the  spot 
gives  the  impression  that  some  object  about  the  size  of  the  disk 
beads  which  form  the  eyes,  had  at  one  time  been  fastened  here. 
At  the  lower  end  of  the  handle  its  under  side  is  embelhshed  for  a 
space  of  slightly  over  1^  inches  with  cross  hatching  of  fine  incised 
lines.  All  parts  of  the  handle  are  nicely  finished,  and  show,  par- 
ticularly at  the  lower  end,  a  poHsh  due  to  use.  Attached  to  it  by 
a  thong  loop  are  five  pendent  strings  or  streamers  of  thick  soft- 
dressed  skin ;  part  of  one  of  these  is  broken  off,  the  remaining  four 
are  each  10  inches  in  length.  These  streamers  are  gathered  to- 
gether at  the  upper  end  and  secured  to  the  loop  by  wrappings  of 
sinew.  Bound  to  the  upper  end  of  each  streamer  by  sinew  seizings 
are  tails  of  small  birds  and  animals,  and  feathers.  One  streamer 
has  five  blue  feathers,  five  small  brown  feathers,  and  one  white 
and  brown  feather;  the  next,  one  long  downy  feather,  one  large 
dark-colored  feather  trimmed  off  at  the  end  and  several  small 
brown  feathers.  The  third  has  the  quill  ends  of  two  large  dark- 
colored  feathers;  these  are  cut  down  to  a  length  of  3  inches,  and 
placed  parallel  to  each  other  with  the  lower  ends  fastened  to- 
gether by  several  tight  tiu-ns  of  fine  sinew;  over  these  are  laid  a 
number  of  small  bright  yellow  feathers;  a  strand  of  human  hair 
3  inches  long  completes  the  group.     The  fourth  streamer  has 


102  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

fastened  to  it  six  feathers  from  the  tail  of  some  small  woodpecker, 
and  two  prairie-dog  tails.  The  fifth  bears  several  blue  feathers, 
one  trimmed  black-and-white  feather,  the  tail  of  a  small  animal, 
the  fur  of  which  is  about  the  color  of  mink,  and  a  very  pretty  little 
abalone  shell  pendant. 

The  specimen  just  described,  like  a  number  of  objects  recovered 
from  Cist  24,  is  in  a  nearly  perfect  state  of  preservation.  Wrapped 
up  with  it  was  the  small  deer  tail  shown  in  c,  the  head  of  a  sap- 
sucker  (Splegrapicus  varius  muchalis)  ^  a,  and  what  appears  to  be 
the  end  of  a  bag  made  of  badger  skin  dressed  with  the  hair  on. 
The  bird  head  is  stuffed  with  fiber  or  grass,  and  the  tail  feathers  of 
the  bird,  tied  together  in  a  bundle,  are  thrust  into  the  skin  of  the 
neck.  A  Pomo  doctor's  outfit  in  the  Museum  collection  contains 
a  number  of  bird  heads  stuffed  with  grass  which  remind  one  at 
once  of  this  specimen. 

Ceremonial  Bundle.  In  plate  7,  b,  can  be  seen  what  is  doubtless 
a  ceremonial  bundle,  one  end  resting  in  the  lap  of  the  mummy,  the 
other  projecting  above  the  left  knee,  this  being  the  position  in 
which  it  was  found. 

In  the  center  of  the  bundle  lay  a  wand-hke  stick,  14 §  inches 
long,  which  is  shown  in  b,  plate  40.  One  end  has  a  blunt  point,  is 
slightly  poUshed  for  an  inch  or  more,  and  is  stained  a  dark  red 
color;  the  opposite  end  is  rounded  and  shows  traces  of  fire.  To 
one  side  of  the  blunt  end  and  projecting  beyond  is  tied  a  brush- 
hke  arrangement  of  coarse  fiber  also  stained  dark  red.  The  same 
string  which  binds  the  fiber  to  the  stick  secures  to  it  a  long  feather 
of  which  there  remains  very  little  but  the  shaft.  Other  articles 
tied  about  the  stick  and  figured  in  the  plate,  are  as  follows: 

The  curious  object,  shown  in  d,  more  nearly  resembles  a  minia- 
tm-e  sandal  than  anything  else,  being  of  the  same  weave  as  a  cer- 
tain type  of  Basket -maker  sandal.  The  strings  attached  to  it  are 
not,  however,  arranged  hke  sandal  tie-strings.  There  is  a  dressed 
skin  thong,  colored  red,  woven  into  one  end;  this  may  be  an  un- 
finished toe-fringe.  The  specimen  is  4  inches  long,  and  \\  inches 
wide.  The  material  is  fiber  string,  except  the  dark  line  through 
the  center  which  is  of  human  hair  string. 

The  blade-like  object  of  tough,  close-grained  wood  shown  in  f, 
is  12  f  inches  long,  1|  inches  wide,  and  f  to  |  of  an  inch  thick. 

I  Identified  by  Mr.  O.  Bangs  of  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology,  Harvard  University. 


Peabody  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2,  Plate  43 


White  Dog  Cave 
a,  One  of  a  pair  of  bone  tubes  showing  compound  die  cemented  to  upper  end; 
b-k,  Compound  dice.     (Enlarged  1/5.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  103 

Both  the  pointed  and  the  rounded  ends  are  blackened  as  a  result 
of  shaping  or  hardening  by  fire.  The  edges  of  the  blunt  end  are 
rounded  for  something  over  a  hand's  breadth;  for  the  remaining 
distance  to  the  beginning  of  the  point  both  edges  are  sharp.  One 
edge  is  rather  keener  than  the  other  and  shows  a  surface  smoothed 
by  wear. 

The  foreshaft  and  point  of  a  throwing  spear  c,  from  the  bundle 
is  the  largest  in  our  collection,  measuring  over  7  inches  in  length. 
The  point  of  red  jasper,  2|  inches  long,  1  inch  wide  at  base,  is  set 
in  a  notch  cut  in  the  end  of  the  shaft  and  secured  by  a  sinew  bind- 
ing which  is  still  in  perfect  condition,  as  is  the  shaft  itself  except 
for  traces  of  decay  at  the  tapering  end.  This  specimen,  though 
our  largest,  is  not  as  long  as  the  foreshafts  in  the  Lang  collection 
from  San  Juan  County,  Utah,  now  in  the  Deseret  Museum,  which, 
according  to  the  table  given  by  Pepper,^  are  7|  inches  to  11^  inches 
in  length. 

The  tips  of  the  long  feather  shown  in  e,  is  7  inches  in  length ;  the 
quill  at  its  upper  end  for  a  distance  of  2  inches  is  seized  with  fine 
flat  sinew  as  shown  in  the  drawing.  Another  feather,  of  which  only 
the  quill  remains,  measured  15  f  inches  in  length. 

Wrapped  about  the  bundle  were  the  remains  of  a  feather  head- 
dress not  unhke  the  feather  crowns  used  by  various  California 
tribes  in  their  ceremonies.  The  method  of  tying  the  feathers  is 
shown  in  the  illustration,  a;  the  same  knot  is  also  used  by  the 
Wailaki  and  Shasta  Indians,  specimens  of  which  are  in  the  Museum 
collection. 

Ceremonial  Bone  Objects.  In  plate  41,  e,  will  be  seen  what  ap- 
pears to  be  merely  a  pair  of  bone  tubes,  but  which  is  in  reality  a 
nearly  complete  example  of  a  very  puzzUng  type  to  which  belong 
all  the  other  bone  specimens  illustrated  in  the  plate.  To  make  clear 
the  relationship  of  these  objects  a  detailed  description  is  necessary. 

The  two  halves  of  this  contrivance  are  tied  tightly  together  with 
a  strip  of  yucca  leaf.  The  right-hand  unit  of  the  pair  is  a  hollow 
bone,  6f  inches  long,  highly  poUshed  as  if  by  long  use;  its  upper 
end  is  soUdly  plugged  with  a  dark  pitchy  substance,  the  edge  of  the 
orifice  is  cut  by  six  small  V-shaped  notches;  the  lower  end  shows 
signs  of  having  once  been  similarly  plugged,  but  is  now  open;  just 
above  the  orifice  there  are  two  small  round  holes,  drilled  directly 

1  Pepper,  1905,  p.  129. 


104  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

opposite  each  other  (only  one  shows  in  the  drawing).  The  left- 
hand  unit  is  made  up  of  two  bones  of  equal  length  fastened  to  each 
other  by  being  pushed  together  over  a  round  stick  which  fits  very 
tightly  in  their  hollow  interiors;  the  joint  is  further  secured  by  a 
sinew  cord  laced  back  and  forth  through  series  of  little  holes  drilled 
close  to  the  edge  of  each  bone  (three  of  these  holes  may  be  made 
out  in  the  drawing,  the  rest  are  hidden  by  the  main  yucca  leaf 
binding).  Just  below  the  upper  end  of  this  compound  bone  are 
two  horizontal  lines  of  small  round  pits,  or  incised  dots;  these  only 
run  half  way  around  and  do  not  appear  on  the  back.  The  end  of 
the  lower  piece  is  pierced  on  one  side  by  a  small  hole,  and  just 
above  the  orifice  there  is  scratched  a  single  encircUng  fine.  Neither 
end  of  the  left-hand  unit  gives  any  indication  of  having  been 
plugged  as  were  both  orifices  of  the  right-hand  bone. 

The  fragments  of  the  specimen  shown  in  d,  are  assembled  in 
what  were  doubtless  their  original  positions.  They  form  a  pair 
very  similar  to  the  one  just  described,  but  both  halves  are  com- 
pound, each  being  made  up  of  two  pieces  once  held  together  by  an 
interior  stick  or  dowel.  Parts  of  a  main  binding  that  once  fastened 
the  two  halves  to  each  other  are  still  preserved.  The  lower  part  of 
the  left-hand  unit  has  on  one  side  three  deep  horizontal  notches 
and  a  single  small  round  hole;  the  upper  piece  has  three  double 
lines  of  incised  dots  which,  as  in  the  preceding  specimen,  only  run 
half  way  around.  The  right-hand  unit  has  two  similar  double 
lines  of  dots,  one  near  the  bottom,  one  just  below  the  top.  The 
upper  end  of  each  unit  is  plugged  with  pitch,  in  which  are  set 
the  curious  compound  objects  shown  in  the  drawing.  They  are 
flattened  spheres  of  red  stone  with  small,  white,  perforated  discs 
glued  to  their  tops.  The  right-hand  sphere  has  been  somewhat 
warped  from  its  original  flat  position  across  the  end  of  the  bone. 

The  pair  of  tubes  shown  in  f,  were  found  together  in  Sunflower 
Cave  and  illustrated  in  our  first  report  (plate  86,  f ) ;  they  are  re- 
produced here  because  they  are  surely  of  the  same  nature  as  the 
White  Dog  Cave  specimens.  They  fit  snugly  when  laid  side  by 
side  and  show,  indeed,  si^s  of  rubbing  along  the  points  of  contact; 
hence  they  once  were  undoubtedly  bound  together.  Near  the 
upper  end  of  each  one,  and  running  only  half  way  around,^  is  an 

1  In  our  first  description  we  mistakenly  stated  that  the  dots  encircled  the  bones  (Kidder- 
Guernsey,  1919,  p.  189). 


Peabodt  Museum  Papers 


Vol.  VIII,  No.  2.  Plate  44 


^ 


Cave  6 

a-d,  Skin  pouch  and  objects  found  with  it  in  woven  bag;  e-i,  Articles  from  within 

pouch.     (About  4/5.) 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  105 

incised  Kne  and  a  row  of  dots.  If  pitch  was  ever  used  to  plug  up 
these  bones,  it  has  entirely  disappeared. 

Two  other  bone  objects  (g  and  h)  are  fragments  which  obviously 
formed  parts  of  pairs  identical  with  the  above.  They  are  of  the 
same  general  shape  and  size,  and  have  similar  rows  of  small  dots 
only  partially  encircling  them.  The  upper  one,  g,  is  the  best  pre- 
served of  several  fragments  of  a  broken  specimen;  found  loose  in 
the  same  cist  with  it  were  four  compound  ''  buttons  "  very  like  the 
ones  glued  to  the  ends  of  the  pair  shown  in  d. 

To  simi  up:  these  objects  were  pairs  of  bones  tied  together  at 
the  middle;  the  component  parts  of  each  pair  might  be  a  single 
bone,  or  might  be  made  of  two  bones  fastened  end  to  end.  All 
are  decorated  with  Unes  of  dots,  and  many,  perhaps  all,  had  at  one 
place  or  another  small  drilled  holes.  Some  at  least  were  provided 
with  compound  "  buttons  "  glued  to  their  ends.  The  fact  that  the 
incised  dots  never  completely  encircle  the  bones,  and  that  the  un- 
dotted  surface  of  each  bone  is  always  the  flatter  side,  seems  to 
indicate  that  these  assemblages  were  held  or  worn  against  some- 
thing in  such  a  position  that  one  side  was  not  visible.  We  have 
only  one  hint  as  to  a  possible  use;  lying  close  against  the  central 
ligature  of  the  pair  figured  in  d,  and  apparently  engaged  by  it  (the 
specimen  is  badly  rotted)  was  a  cord  hung  with  nearly  a  hundred 
deer-hoofs.  The  latter  may  have  formed  a  rattle,  and  if  so,  the 
double  bones  might  perhaps  have  been  some  sort  of  handle  for  it. 

Included  here  because  they  were  found  in  the  same  cists  with 
some  of  the  pairs  just  described,  are  two  specimens  that  seem  to 
have  served  as  handles  for  what  we  suppose  to  have  been  cere- 
monial wands.i  The  first  (plate  42,  a)  came  from  the  same  cist 
that  held  the  broken  paired  bones  above  described.  It  is  a  hollow 
bone,  5f  inches  long,  the  lower  end  carefully  finished,  smoothed, 
and  decorated  with  eight  circular  cup-Hke  depressions  filled  flush 
with  black  gum.  At  the  upper  end  it  is  perforated  by  two  holes 
through  which  runs  a  narrow  thong  holding  a  number  of  other 
thongs;  the  ends  of  such  of  the  latter  as  are  not  broken  off  are 
knotted  about  the  remains  of  the  butts  of  small  feathers;  the  ends 
of  the  others  are  simply  knotted.  The  second  specimen,  b,  from 
the  same  cist  as  e  and  h,  plate  41,  is  a  plain  tube  with  a  single 
hole  at  one  end;  its  similarity  to  the  above  handle  is  obvious. 

1  Compare  the  bird-headed  wooden  handle  with  feathered  streamers,  plate  39. 


106  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

Bone  Whistle.  The  specimen  illustrated  in  plate  42,  i,  was  found 
with  the  handle  last  mentioned,  one  of  the  complete  pairs  of  bones, 
and  one  fragmentary  one.  Its  length  is  4^  inches.  The  lower  end 
is  tightly  closed  with  gum,  the  upper  is  unsealed.  The  single  rather 
large  opening  is  partly  covered  by  wrappings  of  sinew ;  these  seem 
to  have  held  a  bit  of  reed  or  other  substance,  now  almost  rotted 
away. 

Bone  Tubes.  The  tubes  shown  in  c  and  d,  are  both  simple 
lengths  of  hollow  bones  with  carefully  cut  ends.  They  are  figured 
here  because  we  are  unable  to  assign  any  definite  utilitarian  func- 
tion to  them. 

Compound  ''Dice.''  The  extremely  well-made  little  objects 
shown  on  plate  43,  are  all  from  White  Dog  Cave.  Each  consists  of 
two  parts:  a  spherical  or  cylindrical  body  with  rounded  bottom 
and  flat  top ;  and  a  cap,  which  is  a  thin  disc  (often  a  reused  bead 
with  the  perforation  plugged  with  pitch)  firmly  cemented  to  the 
flat  top  of  the  body.  The  variety  of  materials  used  in  their  manu- 
facture will  be  brought  out  in  the  descriptions  which  follow. 

The  upper  and  lower  sides  of  the  largest  example  we  have  is 
shown  in  j,  k;  it  measures  f  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  The  body,  of 
highly  polished  Ugnite,  is  perforated  vertically,  but  the  hole  is 
carefully  plugged;  about  the  lower  edge  there  runs  a  series  of  little 
cuts.  The  cap  is  a  fine  grained  red  slate  disc-bead,  the  perforation 
filled  with  pitch.  This  specimen,  the  only  one  in  the  lot  which  was 
found  singly,  came  from  Cist  52. 

One  of  a  set  of  four  from  Cist  22,  is  shown  in  h.  It  has  a  trans- 
lucent quartz  body  and  a  cap  of  red  slate.  The  other  three  (not 
figured)  are  of  lignite;  one  has  an  unperf orated  white  bone  cap, 
the  caps  of  the  remaining  two  are  missing,  but  dried  cement  on  the 
flat  tops  of  the  bodies  proves  that  they  were  once  present. 

A  set  of  seven  was  found  in  a  small  buckskin  pouch  in  Cist  24. 
One  of  these,  i,  has  a  dark  brown  wooden  base  and  a  white  bone 
cap;  a  second,  f,  has  a  Hgnite  base  with  an  unusually  large  white 
limestone  cap;  the  one  shown  in  g,  has  a  lignite  base  and  a  light 
brown  stone  cap ;  b,  has  a  long  cylindrical  base  of  lignite  and  a  cap 
of  hard  light  green  stone  (not  turquoise) ;  the  fifth  (not  figured),  a 
lignite  base,  and  light  brown  stone  cap.  The  sixth,  d,  and  seventh 
are  of  a  very  peculiar  construction  which  was  not  suspected  until  one 
of  them  accidentally  split  in  halves.    It  proved  to  have  been  made 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  107 

by  rolling  up  a  tiny  pellet  of  gray  clay  mixed  with  grains  of  crushed 
azurite  and  malachite.  Around  this  pellet  was  added  a  thin  layer 
of  the  same  mixture,  then  another  and  another  Uke  the  coats  of  an 
onion,  until  the  requisite  size  and  shape  of  the  base  were  attained. 
The  whole  was  then  daubed  with  pure  gray  clay,  so  that  the  blue 
and  green  particles,  so  thickly  sown  through  the  whole  interior,  do 
not  show  on  the  surface.  The  cap  of  the  one  figured  is  a  flat  green 
stone,  that  of  the  spht  specimen  is  of  red  slate;  both  are  about  the 
same  size. 

A  second  set  of  seven,  also  contained  in  a  buckskin  bag,  was 
taken  from  Cist  24.  These  are  not  figured.  Two  are  of  hgnite  with 
unperf orated  brown  stone  caps;  four  are  of  the  peculiar  azurite- 
malachite-clay  composition,  the  caps  of  two  are  missing.  Of  the 
two  in  place  one  is  a  perforated  brown  stone  disc,  the  other  an  un- 
perf orated  disc  of  green  stone.  The  seventh  is  beautifully  shaped 
from  hematite,  it  lacks  the  cap,  but,  as  in  all  such  cases,  distinct 
traces  of  the  cement  that  once  held  it  in  place  remain. 

Two  of  another  set  of  seven  found  loose  in  Cist  27  are  also  illus- 
trated in  plate  43.  The  one  shown  in  c,  is  a  hard,  light  green  stone 
with  a  cap  of  white  bone;  e,  is  of  serpentine  and  lacks  the  cap.  Of 
the  remaining  five,  one  is  sandstone  of  thin  cylindrical  form;  like  e, 
the  cap  is  missing;  the  other  three  have  green  stone  bases  with 
bone,  pink  stone,  and  red  stone  caps  respectively. 

The  purpose  of  these  pretty  and  beautifully  made  Httle  things 
is  unknown.  Two  of  them  wtere  found  glued  to  the  ends  of  bones 
(plates  41,  d,  and  43,  a),  and  the  set  of  four  above  described  came 
from  a  disturbed  cist  (6)  which  contained  fragments  of  similar 
paired  bones.  We  at  first  thought  that  all  such  ''  buttons  "  were 
meant  for  a  like  use,  but  on  careful  examination  we  could  find  no 
trace  of  pitch  or  other  adhesive  matter  cHnging  to  any  of  them; 
furthermore  their  bottoms  are  always  excellently  finished  and 
show,  indeed,  more  polish  than  do  the  sides,  whereas  objects  pri- 
marily designed  to  be  glued  or  cemented  to  other  objects,  are 
generally  roughened  on  those  parts  which  were  destined  to  receive 
the  adhesive  substance.  This,  and  the  fact  that  we  have  three 
separate  sets  of  exactly  seven  each,  has  inclined  us  to  beheve  that 
they  were  some  form  of  dice  and  that  their  employment  as  an  em- 
bellishment for  the  tips  of  the  peculiar  paired  bones  may  have  been 
a  secondary  one. 


108  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

MEDICINE  POUCHES  OF  SKIN 

Under  this  heading  are  included  a  number  of  skin  bags  of  various 
shapes  and  sizes  which  were  found  with  burials.  They  contained 
assortments  of  miscellaneous  material,  much  of  it  of  no  apparent 
practical  value.^  As  to  whether  or  not  the  identification  of  these 
sacks  as  medicine  pouches  is  correct,  the  reader  may  judge  for 
himself. 

Bag  and  Contents.  The  container  figured  on  plate  38,  a,  is  made 
from  prairie-dog  skins  with  the  hair  on,  cut  and  fitted  to  form  a 
triangular  sack  11  inches  long,  10  inches  across  the  base,  and  3| 
inches  across  the  mouth.    The  skins  are  arranged  so  that  the  heads 


Figure  16 
Skin  bag  containing  beads  and  feathers,  White  Dog  Cave.     (J.) 

form  the  mouth  of  the  bag.  They  are  sewn  together  with  a  running 
stitch,  the  seam  inside,  the  hair  side  out.  Within  were  a  cake  of 
paint,  b,  and  a  very  small  skin  bag,  c,  wrapped  with  string  and 
holding  powdered  paint  of  a  brilhant  green  color.  The  cake  was 
made  of  the  same  paint,  apparently  moistened  and  molded  into 
its  present  shape  with  the  fingers. 

Bag  with  Colored  Minerals.  This  is  a  little  skin  container  in 
which  were  found  about  twenty  small  unworked  fragments  of 
azurite  and  malachite. 

Dice  Bags.  These  were  both  taken  from  Cist  24,  White  Dog 
Cave.  They  are  little  buckskin  bags;  each  contained  seven  of 
the  peculiar  compound  "  dice  '^  described  above. 

Sack  with  Beads  and  Feathers.  This  specimen  is  illustrated  in 
figure  16.  It  is  a  bag  of  what  appears  to  be  badger  skin  with  the 
hair  on,  which  is  somewhat  rotted  and  has  split  down  the  side.    In 

»  Similar  assortments  were  found  with  Sayodneechee  burials.  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919, 
p.  30. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  109 

it  are  about  a  teacup  full  of  small  cylindrical  black  seed  beads;  a 
few  discoidal  bone  beads;  and  six  large  flat  stone  beads,  two  of 
which  are  of  alabaster.  There  are  also  eleven  large  hawk  feathers 
and  a  section  7  inches  long  broken  from  the  stalk  of  a  plant  with 
a  pithy  stem. 

Pouch  and  Small  Articles.  This  heterogeneous  assemblage 
(plate  44)  was  found  in  the  woven  bag  shown  in  plate  30,  d,  taken 
from  Cave  6.  Some  of  the  objects  were  loose  in  the  woven  bag,  the 
remainder  were  contained  in  the  little  skin  pouch,  a,  of  the  former 
plate.  The  latter  is  made  from  a  piece  of  thin  animal  hide,  soft 
dressed  with  the  hair  on,  folded  to  form  a  small,  narrow  sack  5 
inches  long,  and  sewn  with  fiber  string.  After  having  been  sewn 
it  was  turned  to  bring  the  seam  inside.  A  buckskin  tie-string  is 
attached  to  the  top.    Only  traces  of  the  fur  remain. 

The  objects  found  loose  in  the  woven  bag  are:  a  fragment  of  a 
f ossiUzed  mammalian  tooth,  b ;  a  piece  of  hard  yellow  ochre  show- 
ing rubbing  facets,  and  grooves  such  as  might  have  been  made  by 
coloring  a  cord,  and  in  spots,  a  curious  gloss,  c;  a  small  lump  of 
organic  substance  resembhng  dried  fruit,  d;  and  half  of  a  squash 
seed,  f . 

In  the  little  skin  pouch  were :  a  part  of  the  horny  claw  cover  of 
an  animal,  presumably  dog  or  wolf,  i;  an  oval  bone  die,  g,  sim- 
ilar to  those  figured  in  our  first  report,^  except  that  both  sides 
are  convex,  instead  of  one  being  convex  and  one  flat;  a  wooden 
die  of  bi-convex  shape  with  one  surface  coated  with  pitch  as  in 
the  1915  examples  just  referred  to,  h.  The  remaining  specimen 
from  the  pouch  is  a  section  2f  inches  long  cut  from  a  grease- 
wood  stick,  e.  The  ends  are  rounded  and  wrapped  with  sinew,  and 
a  groove  runs  the  whole  length  of  the  under  side,  the  entire  object 
having  been  painted  a  dull  red. 

SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSIONS 

Summary  of  Material  Culture.  Of  the  dwellings  of  the  Basket- 
makers  we  know  next  to  nothing.  Certain  crudely-built  stone 
structures  in  Goat  Cave  (plate  2,  a,  b)  may  be  Basket-maker,  but 
the  evidence  is  not  conclusive.  In  Cave  14  were  found  cists  made 
of  large  slabs  and  closed  over  with  conical  wood  and  adobe  roofs; 

»  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  p.  189  and  plate  86,  g. 


no  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

these  were  built  above  ground  and  against  the  cHff-wall  (plate  9, 
e,  f).  There  is  little  doubt  in  our  minds  that  they  are  Basket- 
maker  products,  and  they  have  a  distinctly  house-hke  appearance; 
but  their  very  small  size  argues  for  their  use  as  storage  places  rather 
than  as  domiciles.  We  believe  at  present,  therefore,  that  the 
Basket-makers  lived  mostly  in  perishable  structures  built  in  the 
open,  and  only  resorted  to  the  caves  for  temporary  shelter  in  severe 
weather. 

Although  they  apparently  did  not  hve  regularly  in  the  caves, 
they  took  full  advantage  of  them  for  the  storage  of  their  crops  and 
for  the  burial  of  their  dead.  For  both  purposes  they  used  cists. 
These  occur  in  several  well-defined  varieties  (see  plate  9) .  Where 
the  cave  floor  was  of  solid  hard-pan  they  excavated  plain,  jar- 
shaped  cavities  in  it;  some  of  these  have  httle  tunnels  or  *'  flues  '^ 
leading  to  smaller,  shallower  holes  set  about  their  mouths.  When 
the  floor  of  the  cave  was  of  material  so  loose  as  to  render  the  above 
forms  unpractical,  they  scooped  out  holes,  larger  or  smaller  ac- 
cording to  their  requirements,  and  lined  them  with  large,  flat, 
stone  slabs  to  hold  back  the  sand.  These  are  the  commonest  types, 
and  served,  apparently,  either  for  storage  or  burial.  Semi-subterra- 
nean (Cave  2,  1915),  or  above-ground  cists  (Cave  14)  with  slab 
foundations  and  adobe  superstructures  complete  the  Hst;  we  have 
so  far  not  found  burials  in  them. 

Burial  customs  were  very  uniform;  the  bodies  were  flexed, 
wrapped  in  fur-string  blankets  and  twined-woven  bags,  and  de- 
posited, with  numerous  mortuary  offerings,  in  the  cists.  Inter- 
ments were  almost  never  single;  in  most  cases  two  to  four  indi- 
viduals were  buried  together. 

The  Basket-makers  grew  corn  of  a  single,  apparently  primitive, 
variety;  squashes  also  were  raised,  but  the  most  careful  search 
has  so  far  failed  to  reveal  any  evidence  of  bean  culture.  The 
turkey  was  probably  not  domesticated.  The  people  covered  them- 
selves with  robes  of  fur  cloth  and  dressed  hides;  men  wore  a 
breech-cloth  and  "  gee-string  '^ ;  the  women  a  short  string  skirt.  The 
usual  footgear  was  the  square-toed  sandal,  a  type  which  differs 
from  all  others  in  the  Southwest  in  shape,  in  the  presence  of  a  toe- 
fringe,  and  in  the  fact  that  the  soles  of  the  better  specimens  are 
provided  with  a  looped  "  pile  "  reinforcement  covering  their  entire 
length. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  111 

Children  and  the  adults  of  both  sexes  were  well  supplied  with 
necklaces  of  stone  and  shell  beads,  as  well  as  with  pendants  of 
stone  and  abalone  shell;  turquoise,  apparently,  was  unknown. 
Hair-dressing  in  the  case  of  males  was  elaborate.  The  back  hair  was 
gathered  into  a  short  chubby  knot  to  which  was  fastened  a  thin 
braided  scalp-lock  falling  from  the  crown  of  the  head;  there  was 
often  a  wide  "  part"  and  a  tonsure  from  which  the  hair  was  clipped 
close.  Women  seem  to  have  worn  the  hair  short;  their  heads  may 
have  provided  the  great  quantity  of  human  hair  that  was  used 
for  string. 

Cradles  were  of  two  types:  the  rigid,  with  wooden  frame,  twig 
or  reed  backing,  and  padded  edge;  and  the  flexible,  made  of  grass 
or  cedar  bark.  Young  babies  were  always  provided  with  stuffed 
pads,  bound  to  the  navel  to  prevent  rupture. 

Basketry  was  very  abundant  indeed,  but  was  exclusively  of 
the  coiled  variety,  with  two-rod-and-bundle  foundation,  and  with 
wooden  sewing  splints.  The  weave  is  coarse,  but  even  and  very 
firm;  decoration  is  in  black  or  black-and-red;  the  designs  have  a 
sort  of  family  resemblance  to  those  of  the  modern  tribes  of  central 
and  northern  CaUfornia.  The  principal  forms  are  trays,  bowls  and 
large  panniers.     No  wickerwork,  twined  or  checker-work  baskets 

were  found.  B^mcrol t  Libninr 

Of  textile  fabrics,  these  people  turned  out  very  limited  amounts 
of  apocynum  string  cloth,  plain  over-and-under  weave.  It  was 
undoubtedly  woven  on  some  form  of  loom,  but  the  small  size  of 
the  individual  pieces  produced  and  the  crude  nature  of  the  selvages 
give  the  impression  that  the  art  of  loom  weaving  was  still  in  its 
infancy.  This  theory  is  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  the  designs 
were  either  painted  on  the  fabric  or  made  by  rubbing  color  onto 
the  wefts  as  they  were  being  woven,  rather  than  produced,  as  in 
more  perfected  systems,  by  the  use  of  separate  wefts  dyed  before 
insertion.  The  most  elaborate  textiles  are  the  hand-twined  bags, 
usually  made  of  apocynum  string,  and  decorated  by  painting  or  by 
rubbing  color  on  the  wefts  in  process.  The  abundance  of  such 
bags  is  very  striking.  Although  an  enormous  quantity  of  finely 
spun  string  was  employed  for  the  textiles  and  for  a  variety  of  other 
purposes  (such  as  in  rabbit-nets,  string  aprons,  fur  cloth,  etc.),  we 
have  never  found  any  trace  of  the  use  of  a  spindle,  either  plain  or 
whorled.    Fur  cloth  was  much  used,  true  feather-cloth  never. 


112  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

Skin  was  well  dressed  and  entered  into  many  industries,  but 
most  strikingly  so  in  the  making  of  all  sorts  of  small  to  medium 
sized  bags  and  pouches,  the  most  characteristic  of  which  are  sacks 
formed  of  two  to  seven  or  eight  prairie-dog  hides  sewed  together 
in  such  a  way  that  the  heads  of  the  animals  arranged  side  by  side 
formed  the  necks  of  the  bags. 

The  Basket-makers  had  few  superiors  in  the  careful  working  of 
wood;  their  weapons  and  implements  show  as  fine  shapes  and  as 
perfect  finish  as  can  be  achieved  with  stone  tools.  The  most 
typical  objects  are  the  atlatl  and  dart  (used,  apparently,  to  the 
entire  exclusion  of  the  bow  and  arrow);  the  grooved  club;  and 
the  crooked  shafted,  plain-gripped  digging  stick. 

Artifacts  of  stone  are  very  poorly  represented  in  the  collection. 
There  are  no  specimens  of  the  following  types,  all  common  in  the 
cliff -houses  and  pueblos :  axes,  both  grooved  and  grooveless,  ham- 
mer stones,  polishing  stones,  ''  sandal  lasts,"  chipped  scrapers, 
arrowheads,  or  long  drills.  As  these  lacking  forms  are  all  strictly 
utilitarian  in  function,  their  absence  may  be  due  to  our  material 
being  almost  exclusively  from  graves  and  temporary  cave-shelters, 
rather  than  from  long  inhabited  dwelHng  places.  It  would  not 
surprise  us,  however,  to  find  that  the  grooved  axe  was  unknown  to 
the  Basket-makers,  as  that  implement  among  the  northern  Cliff- 
dwellers  is  always  of  a  rude,  unspecialized  type  and  therefore 
presumably  of  late  introduction.  The  grooved  axe  is,  indeed,  en- 
tirely absent  from  the  areas  to  the  west  and  northwest  of  the 
Pueblo  district. 

Of  such  stone  objects  as  do  occur,  the  most  characteristic  are  the 
heavy  discoidal  and  sub-spherical  beads,  the  short  squat  pipes  and 
the  large,  triangular,  tanged  dart-points.  The  chipping  of  the 
latter,  and  of  certain  large  flint  knife-blades,  is  very  skilKuUy 
done. 

Bone  tools,  hke  those  of  stone,  are  not  common  in  our  collection ; 
there  are  a  few  simple  awls,  a  few  beads,  some  whistles,  and  some 
pairs  of  decorated  tubes  which  we  have  classed  as  ceremonial. 
There  are  no  bone  scrapers.  The  rarity  of  awls,  among  the  re- 
mains of  a  people  who  produced  as  much  coiled  basketry  as  did 
the  Basket-makers,  is  very  pecuHar;  it  is  probably  due  to  the  fact 
that  we  have  not  yet  succeeded  in  finding  long-occupied  dwelling 
places. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  113 

While  feathers  played  an  unimportant  part  in  the  making  of 
robes,  having  been  used  only  for  fringes  and  ornamental  borders, 
they  were  much  employed  in  the  making  of  all  sorts  of  ceremonial 
paraphernaha,  as  well  as  for  the  winging  of  atlatl  darts.  Bundles 
of  large  feathers,  destined  probably  for  the  latter  purpose,  were 
found  in  several  caves. 

True  pottery,  as  far  as  we  know,  was  not  made.  The  only  speci- 
mens of  burned  clay  that  we  have  are  two  small  pipes  found  in 
1914-1915.  In  the  present  report  is  described  a  fragment  of  an 
unfired  dish  with  basket  marked  exterior;  this  may  represent  a 
very  primitive  form  of  pottery.  In  which  case  again  we  feel  the  lack 
of  material  from  village  sites,  as  it  is  possible  that  pottery  really 
did  exist  but  that  it  never,  for  some  reason,  found  its  way  into  the 
graves. 

As  to  pictographs,  we  only  know  that  the  painting  of  large 
square-shouldered  human  figures  on  the  walls  of  caves  was  a  typi- 
cal, and  apparently  an  exclusive  Basket-maker  practice.  We  have 
never  been  able  to  identify  any  pecked  pictographs  as  of  Basket- 
maker  origin. 

Conclusions.  Before  entering  into  any  discussion  of  the  place  of 
the  Basket-makers  in  the  general  scheme  of  Southwestern  archae- 
ology, it  must  first  be  demonstrated  that  their  culture  is  really  a 
distinct  one.  If  this  cannot  be  done,  if  the  so-called  Basket-maker 
remains  from  Grand  Gulch  and  the  Kayenta  region  are  to  be  con- 
sidered as  only  a  speciaUzed  local  phase  of  the  widespread  Pueblo- 
Cliff-dweller  civilization,  then  they  naturally  cease  to  have  any 
chronological  or  morphological  interest.  The  authors,  however, 
feel  sure  that  such  is  not  the  case;  a  summary  of  the  evidence 
follows. 

The  cliff-houses  and  pueblos  of  this  region  are  stone-built  dwell- 
ings of  coursed  masonry,  laid  up  with  adobe  mortar;  the  rooms  are 
rectangular.  Corn  of  several  varieties  was  cultivated,  as  well  as 
beans  and  cotton;  the  turkey  was  domesticated.  Of  the  minor 
arts,  the  most  important  was  pottery  making.  Equally  character- 
istic are:  twilled  yucca  leaf  sandals,  twilled  rush  matting,  and 
twilled  ring-baskets,  cotton  loom  cloth,  turkey-feather  string,  and 
the  bow  and  arrow.  These  objects,  together  with  pottery,  make 
up  nine-tenths  of  any  collection  from  the  cHff-houses.  Turning  to 
the  graves,  we  find  that  Chff-dweller  skulls  were  always  artificially 


114  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

flattened  at  the  back,  and  that  the  bodies,  accompanied  by  gener- 
ous offerings  of  pottery,  were  interred  in  individual  graves,  usually 
in  the  open. 

The  Basket-makers,  on  the  other  hand,  certainly  built  no  houses 
of  coursed  masonry;  they  may,  in  fact,  have  possessed  no  more 
permanent  dwellings  than  do  the  Navajo  of  today.  Their  com 
was  of  a  single,  rather  primitive,  variety;  they  were  ignorant, 
apparently,  of  beans  and  cotton,  nor  did  they  domesticate  the 
turkey.  They  made  no  pottery  worthy  of  the  name  (or  if  they  did, 
it  never  found  its  way  into  the  graves),  and  all  the  other  character- 
istic Cliff-dweller  specimens  mentioned  above  are  conspicuous  by 
their  absence.  They  are  replaced,  however,  by  such  equally 
characteristic  Basket-maker  products  as  the  square-toed  sandal, 
the  twined-woven  bag,  and  the  atlatl.  The  heads  of  the  Basket- 
makers  were  never  artificially  deformed.  The  graves,  instead  of 
being  in  the  open,  were  cists  excavated  in  the  hard-pan  or  the 
sandy  fill  of  caves,  and  from  two  or  three  to  ten  or  more  bodies  were 
placed  in  each  cist.  Mortuary  offerings  were  numerous  and  varied, 
but  the  one  invariable  gift  to  the  dead  was  coiled  basketry. 

In  the  above  summaries  only  the  leading  traits  of  the  two  cul- 
tures are  catalogued.  A  more  detailed  comparison  in  tabular  form 
has  been  published  elsewhere,^  but  enough  is  here  presented  to 
show  the  essential  differences  between  them,  particularly  when  it 
is  considered  that  all  finds  of  each  class  have  always  run  true  to 
form:  pottery,  for  example,  and  deformed  skulls  have  never  ap- 
peared in  Basket-maker  graves;  the  rubbish  of  cliff-houses  has 
never  given  evidence  of  the  manufacture  of,  for  instance,  twined- 
woven  bags  or  the  atlatl. 

We  may  now  take  up  the  question  of  age.  Here  again  we  are  on 
firm  ground.  The  Basket-makers  definitely  antedated  the  Pueblo- 
Chff-dweller  people.  This  was  stated  long  ago  by  the  Wetherills 
and  McLloyd  and  Graham,^  and  was  proved  to  us  by  the  super- 
position of  Cliff-dweller  remains  upon  Basket-maker  burials  in 
Sunflower  Cave.  Even  without  this  clear  stratigraphic  evidence, 
the  case  was  reasonably  certain,  for  in  several  of  the  other  sites 
investigated  we  found  cliff-house  pots  or  sherds  in  surface-sand 
overlying  Basket-maker  burials  but  never  in  the  graves  themselves. 
Furthermore,  during  the  1915  work  in  Sunflower  Cave  there  was 

»  Kidder-Guernsey,  1919,  p.  204.  «  Pepper,  1902. 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  115 

taken  from  the  cliff-house  rubbish  a  square-toed  Basket-maker 
sandal.^ 

We  have  proved,  to  our  own  satisfaction  at  least,  that  the 
Basket-makers  were  a  people  culturally  distinct  from  the  Cliff- 
dwellers;  and  also  that  they  antedated  the  latter.  At  this  point 
definite  knowledge  ceases;  and  to  the  very  important  questions  of 
the  origin  of  the  Basket-maker  culture,  and  of  its  relation  to  that 
of  the  Cliff-dwellers,  we  can  supply  only  conjectural  answers. 

As  to  origin,  it  may  be  said  that  several  traits,  such  as  corn 
growing  and  the  use  of  the  atlatl,  point  toward  Mexico.  The 
peculiar  curved,  grooved  hand-club,  and  the  method  of  hair- 
dressing  were  both  features  of  the  somewhat  Mexicanized  Maya 
culture  of  late  prehistoric  and  early  historic  times  in  Yucatan. 
Furthermore,  the  only  archaeological  finds  which  remind  one  of 
the  Basket-makers  have  come  from  the  Coahuila  caves  in  northern 
Mexico,  and  from  the  Tularosa  caves  in  southern  New  Mexico. 
The  latter  sites  lie  roughly  half  way  between  the  Kayenta  region 
and  Coahuila.  Just  how  much  weight  should  be  attached  to  these 
bits  of  evidence  we  do  not  know,  but  it  seems  to  us  certain  that 
germs  of  the  culture  worked  northward  from  the  Mexican  high- 
lands in  very  early  times. 

Although  the  question  of  their  origin  is  obscure,  we  know  at 
least  that  the  Basket-makers  were  living  in  the  lower  San  Juan 
country  prior  to  the  opening  of  the  Pueblo-CUff-dweller  period. 
As  to  the  relations  of  the  cultures  two  hypotheses  suggest  them- 
selves: first,  that  the  Basket-makers  were  a  distinct  people  who 
were  crowded  out  of  the  region  by  the  arrival  of  their  more  highly 
developed  successors;  second,  that  they  were  the  direct  ancestors 
of  the  latter. 

If  the  first  hypothesis  be  correct  we  need  not  postulate  any  great 
time  interval  between  the  two  cultures;  as  one  came  in,  the  other 
was  destroyed  or  moved  away.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  beUeve 
that  the  one  developed  from  the  other,  we  must  be  prepared  to 
allow  a  very  considerable  time  for  the  transition,  for  there  are 
many  radical  differences  between  the  cultures;  and  we  have  so  far 

1  This  illustrates  an  important  principle  of  archaeological  evidence,  viz.:  Given  two  cul- 
tures, A  and  B,  in  the  same  area;  if  A  objects  are  found  in  B  sites,  but  B  objects  never  in  A  sites, 
A  may  be  safely  considered  older  than  B.  The  sporadic  finding  of  Basket-maker  products  in 
cliff-houses  may  be  expected  in  the  future,  particularly  as  it  is  probable  that  the  frequent  spolia- 
tion of  Basket-maker  burials  was  the  work  of  the  Cliff-dwellers. 


116  BASKET-MAKER  CAVES 

sought  in  vain  for  any  trait  running  from  the  one  to  the  other 
through  an  unbroken  logical  and  surely  demonstrable  evolution. 
While  there  are  missing  links  in  every  such  chain,  it  is  possible  that 
in  this  case  some  of  them  may  yet  be  supplied  by  the  hitherto  little- 
known  *'pre-pueblo"  or  *' slab-house"  sites  that  archaeologists  are 
beginning  to  uncover  in  various  parts  of  the  Southwest.  All  such 
sites  hitherto  examined  have,  however,  been  found  in  the  open  and 
so  have  yielded  no  specimens  of  a  perishable  nature;  hence  they 
have  provided  us  with  no  evidence  as  to  basketry,  sandals,  food 
products  or  wood-working,  the  very  phases  of  material  culture 
with  which  we  are  most  famiUar  in  the  case  of  the  Basket-makers 
and  which  we  therefore  most  need  for  comparative  and  develop- 
mental studies.  A  rigorous  search  should  accordingly  be  made  for 
"  pre-pueblo  "  habitations  and  graves  in  locations  where  they  may 
be  expected  to  be  found  protected  from  moisture.  If  such  are  dis- 
covered, it  should  be  an  easy  matter,  in  view  of  our  accurate 
knowledge  of  both  the  Basket-makers  and  the  developed  Chff- 
dwellers,  to  determine  definitely  whether  or  not  the  ''  pre-pueblo  " 
people  were  culturally  intermediate  between  them. 

To  return  to  the  first  hypothesis,  namely,  that  the  Basket- 
makers  were  crowded  out  of  the  region  by  the  Cliff-dwellers,  and 
settled  somewhere  along  its  edges.  We  have  examined  collections 
from  many  modem  southwestern  tribes  who  possess  cultures  of 
about  the  same  grade  as  that  of  the  Basket-makers,  in  the  hope 
that  we  might  find  some  evidence  of  their  descent  from  the  ancient 
people.  Nothing  definite  could,  however,  be  estabhshed,  although 
similarities  in  basketry,  rabbit -nets,  and  ,  hair  ornaments  were 
noticed  in  the  Paiute  collections;  and,  among  the  Mohave  material, 
in  the  form  and  weave  of  twined  bags  and  in  the  practice  of  plug- 
ging with  wood  the  quills  of  feathers.  Too  much  significance,  how- 
ever, must  not  be  placed  upon  similarities  such  as  the  above,  for  the 
remarkable  state  of  preservation  of  the  Basket-maker  material 
makes  it  appear  so  much  like  a  collection  from  an  existing  tribe 
that  it  is  particularly  easy  to  fall  into  the  way  of  drawing  techno- 
logical comparisons  between  it  and  modern  articles,  losing  sight 
of  the  fact  that  the  Basket-maker  products  are  really  of  great 
antiquity  and  that  the  Paiute,  Mohave,  and  other  collections  are 
things  of  yesterday.  Where  similarities  occur,  therefore,  their 
significance  as  showing  direct  connection  is  open  to  question;  the 


OF  NORTHEASTERN  ARIZONA  117 

long  time  interval  has  permitted  the  working  of  too  many  as  yet 
unassayable  factors  of  culture-growth  and  transmission. 

It  may  seem  to  the  reader  that  we  have  been  unduly  cautious  in 
our  failure  to  draw  any  definite  conclusions.  The  work,  however, 
is  just  beginning,  and  it  is  our  desire  to  do  no  more  than  record  for 
other  students  the  evidence  so  far  accumulated,  and  to  present  the 
few  speculations  as  to  its  meaning  which  we  have  allowed  ourselves 
to  indulge  in. 


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Catlin,  George. 
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